Inter Miami: Supporters' Shield win pushes Herons to "higher level"

Henry Ward Beecher, an 18th-century minister and abolitionist, once declared “we should not judge people by their peak of excellence, but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”

Inter Miami CF have indeed been excellent in their dogged march to the 2024 Supporters’ Shield, a regular-season championship sealed with two games to spare thanks to Wednesday’s wild 3-2 win at the Columbus Crew, the defending MLS Cup presented by Audi holders.

The Herons have lost just four league games all season, and only twice since March; the 2021 New England Revolution’s all-time points record of 73 remains within their reach. They’ve been resourceful, showing themselves just as capable of grinding out tight, pragmatic results as overwhelming opponents with that explosive attack headlined by Leo Messi. On Wednesday they showed a bit of both, weathering Columbus’ pretty, probing, precise possession buildups for long stretches between viciously clinical finishes from Messi and Luis Suárez.

“We suffered until the end,” Messi told MLS Season Pass’s Diego Valeri in Spanish during a pitchside postgame interview at Lower.com Field. “It shows what this team is about.”

And when it all seemed set to fall apart via a late Crew penalty kick that would – should – have equalized the score, goalkeeper Drake Callender conjured a clutch save on Cucho Hernández to preserve the W, stepping up just as so many other members of Miami’s supporting cast have this season.

“We reached the objective,” head coach Gerardo 'Tata' Martino said in Spanish during his press conference. “We have good moments in the game, suffering moments in the game, and it happens to everybody to be able to achieve something.”

Living up to the hype

But when judged by the standard set by Beecher’s words, Miami’s achievement is that much more remarkable. The distance they’ve traveled, in a matter of mere months, is striking.

For all the glitz, hype and celebrity, this remains a fledgling organization, one that’s so far taken part in just two Audi MLS Cup Playoffs games in their five seasons of existence, and lost both. Last year the Herons – even with the paradigm-shifting arrival of Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba – finished with the third-worst record in Major League Soccer, a desperate postseason push flopping when injuries and mileage caught up with their GOAT.

“Now we can say, with our results and our game, we’re able to think that we've gotten to a higher level,” said Martino, resolutely insisting, even now, his side’s project still hasn’t reached the Crew’s stage of maturity. “I am not one of these persons that strictly goes by results, that chases results. Columbus's game today reflects the quality of the team, and we are in a construction period and a building period, something similar.

“We are in the process of creating that thing, a franchise that thinks of more and that gets to win more than lose. And this is very essential, this is very important, that we've changed, and done so in a very short time. With today, we've got 20 wins in the league, and at other times we couldn't have thought of that. To change that dynamic for us is very important.”

Messi-led project

Certainly, having Messi in your kit makes that sort of transformation a lot more feasible – not just because of his own transcendent quality, but also the magnetism that attracts other elite talent and inspires the rest of the squad. The Shield is the 46th trophy of his unmatched career, just one data point among many that underline his greatness.

“His will to win games, score goals, put other players in good positions, is immense for the team,” Callender said.

After a couple of marginally less incredible performances since his return from an ankle injury, the World Cup winner reminded everyone who he is with two stunning strikes out of nowhere on Wednesday, snatching a 2-0 halftime lead that ultimately proved “decisive,” in Martino’s words.

“He had one and a half opportunities,” said Crew coach Wilfried Nancy afterwards, “and he scored two.”

Sights set on MLS Cup

Now, with one piece of hardware in hand, Miami fix their gaze on the next target: The MLS Cup trophy currently in Columbus’ possession. They’ll have weeks to nurse weary legs and gather their strength, confidence surging in their collective veins with Messi, the ultimate trump card, getting back to his devastating best.

“We're reaching our objectives, but the truth is that we have our mindset on getting through December 7 [the date of the MLS Cup final], which is what we want,” said Martino.

“I said this last year: We had to change to a team that was working, even though we had important players missing,” he added, reeling off the expected absences of Messi, Suárez and others. “So we had to get a roster that could answer during different times in the year. And then we start to see why the team managed to get so many points with the absence of the most known players in the team – but also, when they were there, the team, in the most important match that we've had up to now this year, came back to find a version of Leo that defines games and championships.”