Lionel Messi is carrying Inter Miami to the MLS Cup - can anyone stop them after their demolition of FC Cincinnati?

Messi has repeatedly been asked how he has been able to be so good, so injury-free, and so effective for so long. It's a fair question. He is 38, and still immensely effective. His response? Well, he has just learned how to walk. 

It seems simple, really. And it's not particularly novel either. But Messi has become a master at conserving energy - when his team is both with and without the ball. He strolls into spaces nowadays, positioning himself before making tiny sprints to receive passes. He is still more than good enough to operate in the tiniest of pockets, so Messi exploits them without having to buzz around everywhere. It is the same when Miami don't have the ball. Usually, he doesn't press. His defensive action numbers are woeful. There is no point in asking him to mark, close down, or impact play. That is, after all, everyone else's job. 

Until Sunday night. That's when things changed. Messi learned how to run. When Miami didn't have the ball, he buzzed and scampered. He clogged passing lanes and prevented Cincinnati from threading passes into the dangerous Evander. Ahead of the Herons' third goal, Messi dropped back into his own half, won the ball, and then played the killer ball - which Allende finished. 

"We know what Leo is capable of - he proves it every weekend. Today, he did another incredible job off the ball, because we already know what he's capable of with it," manager Javier Mascherano said after the game.

But of course, the classics stuck around. This is the bit, after all, that really matters. The numbers are ridiculous. Messi created eight chances, bagged three assists, and scored the opening goal. He has broken an MLS record by notching 12 goal contributions in a single playoff campaign (with potentially two games to go). In his last seven games, he has scored 11 and assisted 11. Piece it all together, and Messi is averaging a goal contribution every 28.6 minutes. These are simply absurd numbers. 

There's also a deadly efficiency about him. Of course, Messi is the impact man in pretty much every Miami attack. But five players on the pitch had more touches. Both Sergio Busquets and Rodrigo De Paul were on the ball more. Three more players had more touches in the opposition box. Jordi Alba had more passes into the final third. Yet no other Miami player completed more dribbles. No other attacking player had a higher pass completion percentage. 

But quantifying Messi in stats doesn't do him full justice. Instead, it is the moments that matter. He started the move that led to the first goal, picking the ball up near the halfway line, dumping it off, before accelerating into the box to notch just the 30th headed goal of his career. On the second assist, he swiveled, pivoted, and in one move dished to Mateo Silvetti, who finished wonderfully. His second assist came with the inside of his left foot. The third was thanks to the outside of his right. Both were inch-perfect into Allende. Both cut through the defense. Both set up chances that really could not be missed.

And then there were the other bits: the drops of the shoulder, the exploitation of impossible angles. 

The thing is, this has all been true for some time now - in MLS and beyond. Messi was MVP last year. It would be an immense shock if he didn't claim the award this year, too. He came within one goal or assist of breaking the single-season goal involvement record (a mark currently held by LAFC legend Carlos Vela). He has always done these things, whether it be in a romp for PSG, a demolition of Puerto Rico in a meaningless friendly, or World Cup final.

So, what has changed? Well, for Miami, at least, it's been a surprising efficiency at the other end. Miami have been subpar defensively for most of the season. The configurations aren't right. They lack legs in both midfield and central defense. Maxi Falcon is erratic. Noah Allen is 21 - and plays like it. Marcelo Weigandt and Ian Fray are inconsistent at right back. Busquets can't move anymore. In short, the Herons get exposed in transition almost every game.

In the playoffs, though, they have been tougher to beat. Silvetti has added more legs. A bit more intensity from Messi has put more pressure on the ball. It also has to be admitted that the absence of Luis Suarez - suspended for the third game against Nashville and benched Sunday night - has given Miami one less passenger to account for. 

They have certainly benefited from a few mistakes, too. Cincinnati had their chances early on, but failed to capitalize. Evander, consistently one of MLS's best, hasn't scored a career playoff goal - a baffling stat given his raw quality and regular season goalscoring exploits. He was quiet once again Sunday. Still, Miami have done something that vaguely mimics Argentina: but a strong defensive structure around Messi and allowed him to be his best. The result is a team tricky to beat. Miami have allowed just 1.01 xG against, and have conceded just once from open play in the playoffs. 

There has, to be sure, been an imbalance in MLS this year. The Eastern Conference is, quite simply, far better than the West. The top three teams in the Eastern Conference all amassed more points than the first in the West. It is deeper, too, with strong teams like the Columbus Crew and Nashville SC occupying the sixth and seventh spots - as opposed to Austin and Dallas out West. Take nothing away from the excellence of Vancouver, San Diego, and LAFC, but Miami have had a harder go of things this season when factoring in all of the competitions the team was in.

The pattern has held in the playoffs. Miami were narrow favorites over Cincinnati largely because they had Messi, but they hadn’t won at TQL Stadium in MLS play since 2021. Their 3-0 loss there in the regular season - a match in which a full-strength Miami were comfortably handled - was cited all week as the clearest sign they might struggle.

But it didn’t matter. They went on the road to the conference’s best team, one that routed them four months ago, and won convincingly.

So who stops them now? Philadelphia might have been the logical answer, but they were edged out by a resurgent NYCFC. Miami, in all likelihood, won’t lose to that group at home. And they’ll host whoever escapes the West in MLS Cup. San Diego and Vancouver are both capable — and Vancouver even beat Miami at Chase Stadium in April — but this version of the Herons feels far removed from the one that fell 3-1.

Strip all of that away, though, and the Messi effect still looms largest: the goals, the assists, and the moments in between. It will take a team effort from here, but when that switch flips, Miami become almost impossible to beat.