Pitch Points: Pep’s Next Thousand Games; Will Messi Drag Miami To Glory?

What will Pep Guardiola’s adjacent 1,000 games look like?

Pep Guardiola has done a batch pinch his 1,000 matches arsenic a manager. At Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, he has lifted 40 trophies (including 3 Community Shields, because why wouldn’t you count them?), yet not moreover this truth quantifies nan measurement Guardiola has defined an full era (or two) of nan sport.

And he’s moving connected mounting nan zeitgeist again. In his 1,000th lucifer successful nan dugout connected Sunday, Guardiola watched his City broadside dismantle Liverpool successful a measurement that suggests nan 54-year-old’s adjacent awesome squad is successful nan pipeline.

While truthful galore of soccer’s champion teams successful 2025 are each astir nan press, Guardiola wants his Manchester City squad to find solutions pinch nan ball. Against Liverpool, he fielded 3 earthy creators (Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva) to play done nan mediate pinch Jérémy Doku besides tucked wrong to overload nan centre and dribble to his heart’s content. The Premier League champions couldn’t cope.

As if that wasn’t capable for Liverpool to handle, Nico O’Reilly was fixed nan state to get guardant and return up positions that twisted Liverpool’s Conor Bradley into a knot while Erling Haaland did Erling Haaland things. Even without Rodri, City had afloat power of nan crippled successful nan centre of nan pitch. It was a complete performance.

Passing successful nan Premier League is astatine a 15-year low. Long throws are up 100% and way 1 shot is back. Guardiola, though, is attempting to get up of nan curve. He’s anticipating nan adjacent tactical improvement and is doing each he tin to guarantee his Manchester City squad are nan ones starring it.

Did nan CPL title crippled person nan craziest-ever conditions for a final?

Sunday’s Canadian Premier League last couldn’t person looked immoderate much Canadian if it had tried. Played successful temperatures of -8C (17.6F) amid blizzard conditions, Atlético Ottawa’s other clip triumph complete Cavalry FC was more of a Winter Olympics event than a shot match. The goalkeepers who utilized shovels to clear nan punishment boxes of snowfall each 15 minutes could beryllium curling sweepers.

David Rodríguez’s “icicle kick” was nan only applicable measurement to people a extremity without having to rotation nan shot done a ft of snowfall connected nan ground. While nan lucifer went viral, giving nan CPL nan top vulnerability of its seven-year history, nan conditions made nan title crippled thing of a farce. Were Ottawa really nan amended squad aliases did nan snowfall simply autumn successful their favour? Was it really adjacent to crown a champion this way?

No different last has ever been played successful conditions for illustration these. The 2018 Copa Libertadores last was moved erstwhile torrential rainfall flooded nan transportation astatine La Bombonera. The 2013 MLS Cup betwixt Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake was nan coldest lucifer successful convention history, played successful temperatures of 22F (-6C). None of that compares to nan snowy segment successful Ottawa connected Sunday.

Can Lionel Messi single-handedly triumph MLS Cup?

Lionel Messi’s 2025 Major League Soccer play has been outstanding. Historic, even. Not that anyone seems to attraction (certainly not John Muller). Messi mightiness make them care, though. They’d surely retrieve if Messi is to triumph single-handedly triumph MLS Cup, arsenic is now a anticipation aft scoring 5 goals successful conscionable 3 Round One games against Nashville including 2 successful Game 3 to destruct them.

There were 10 different Inter Miami players connected nan field, but that hardly mattered. Messi took complete nan bid successful a measurement that surely has FC Cincinnati secretly hoping nan 38-year-old returns from world work pinch Argentina a small banged up for their convention semi-final. It mightiness beryllium nan only measurement anyone successful MLS tin perchance extremity Messi correct now.

Over nan past 2 seasons, Inter Miami person done an fantabulous occupation of getting successful their ain measurement erstwhile it matters most. Last year’s daze Round One exit to Atlanta United is wide remembered for Brad Guzan opinionated connected his caput (and getting stuck successful his net) erstwhile successful truth Inter Miami’s vulnerability successful protect modulation was conscionable arsenic large a logic for their failure.

Against nan Seattle Sounders successful this year’s Leagues Cup final, Inter Miami faltered erstwhile more. They grounded to laic a punch connected their opponents until they virtually did aft full-time erstwhile nan lucifer had already been mislaid and fisticuffs began. Luis Suárez spat astatine nan Sounders’ caput of security to headdress nan caput loss.

If it’s not Suárez losing his cool, it’s Jordi Alba playing pinch nan positional consciousness of a canine chasing a Frisbee. Or 37-year-old Sergio Busquets lacking nan mobility of 27-year-old Sergio Busquets. There are plentifulness of reasons why Inter Miami won’t triumph their first MLS Cup, but a bigger logic why they might: Messi has seen everything and decided to do it each himself.