A mile from Red Bull Arena, street vendors stood on the sidewalk hawking pink Inter Miami Lionel Messi jerseys.
Closer to the venue, it was hard to look left, right, up or down without seeing someone wearing a shirt or jersey with Messi’s name embroidered on the back. Messi Mania had clearly struck the New York area.
But just about the only place Messi couldn’t be seen through the first 60 minutes of Saturday’s match between Inter Miami and the Red Bulls was on the pitch.
That was until the prayers of the New York/New Jersey soccer faithful were answered and the GOAT stepped onto the field in the 60th minute.
Red Bull Arena erupted when Messi began warming up in the second half, and then a deafening roar emerged when he checked into his first official MLS match.
It wasn’t hard to see the nerves of some fans who had shelled out big bucks to see the Argentine superstar in person.
“I’ve had this marked on my calendar for over a month and a half, and if he doesn’t play, I’ll be very disappointed,” said Santiago Lopez from Belleville, N.J., who paid roughly $350 for his ticket.
“I’m here with family and friends. We bought jerseys. We bought tickets at resale price, and this is what we come out for: to see the big stars, the big players. And he’s uplifting MLS. Players like him have to play.”
Fans began chanting for Messi six minutes into the game, and the calls would continue to erupt from the crowd as the famed footballer sat on the bench still in his training gear.
Questions had arisen about Messi’s status for Saturday after Miami coach Tata Martino indicated that he would have to rest Messi at some point after a grueling stretch of games recently.
It could have been an unfortunate turn of events for Mark Gold from Marlboro, N.J., who purchased tickets for him and son Dylan on Saturday morning.
He only found out an hour later that Messi’s status was in question.
“We’re expecting him to play in the second half,” he said, later adding the cost of his tickets would have funded a “nice vacation.” “Clearly, everybody’s here to see Messi, so hopefully he won’t disappoint his fans.”
In the end, it was safe to say Messi did not disappoint the crowd at Red Bull Arena.
In typical Messi fashion, he scored on a brilliant move that saw him masterfully dance in the box and dish it off to Benjamin Cremaschi, who in turn sent it right back to Messi for the put-home goal in the 89th minute.
Inter Miami took the game, 2-0.
