Son’s LAFC beat Messi’s Miami on opening night

By James Nalton

Son vs. Messi

An opening day showdown between two teams expected to top their respective conference tables in 2026 ended in a convincing victory for Los Angeles FC, as the battle between Son Heung-min and Lionel Messi went the former Tottenham man’s way.

The game was played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, directly across the street from LAFC’s usual home, BMO Stadium, in an effort to encourage larger attendance for this high-profile season opener.

It worked, with a crowd of 75,673 making it the second-largest attendance of all time in MLS for a single game, still slightly behind the 82,110 people who watched LA Galaxy vs. LAFC at the Rose Bowl in 2023.

The home crowd also had plenty of reasons to celebrate, with their attacking line of Son, Denis Bouanga and David Martínez causing problems for the Inter Miami defense throughout the match.

The visitors, on the other hand, looked extremely susceptible to transition play, as they often did in 2025, but on this occasion they failed to find Messi’s magic to bail out their leaky defense.

Miami head coach Javier Mascherano commented after the game that he did not think the three-goal margin of defeat was an accurate reflection of the game.

“The reality is they beat us fair and square,” Mascherano told reporters after the match.

“I think it can be difficult to explain when you lose 3-0, but my initial analysis gives me the feeling that the result was somewhat misleading.

“There wasn’t much difference [between the two teams] throughout the game itself.

The statistics, and indeed, the game itself, told a different story.

Inter Miami had 68% possession, but created an xG of just 0.85 on 12 shots. Six of them were blocked and six from outside the box.

LAFC, on the other hand, created an xG of 3.26 and had six big chances in total. On the contrary, the misleading part of the result is that the home team could have scored more.

Defense remains a problem for Inter Miami. Only four teams in the Eastern Conference have conceded more goals than in 2025, and they are off to a worrying start.

It’s difficult to judge them on just one game against LAFC, however, as the Western Conference team has the potential to run away with their league team in 2026, such is their firepower on offense. Stopping Messi and co. will also give them confidence in their defense.

Based on this, the 2026 MLS season could belong to Son and LAFC.

Wonderkid Mehmeti shines under Bradley’s direction

Michael Bradley’s managerial debut at senior team level would have been a story in itself, but, undoubtedly a pleasing outcome for any head coach, the resulting narrative revolved around what he allowed his New York Red Bulls players to do in their 2-1 win at Orlando City, rather than solely around the manager himself.

In this case it was the remarkably young line-up of the former United States captain, Roma midfielder and son of former Fulham manager Bob, fielding in that opening match, and in particular the performance of 16-year-old midfielder Adri Mehmeti.

The inclusion of Mehmeti, along with 17-year-olds Matthew Dos Santos and Julian Hall, allowed the Red Bulls to become the first team in MLS history to start three players aged 17 or younger in a regular season match.

Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (21), Ronald Donkor (21), Justin Che (22) and Cade Cowell (22) were also in the starting lineup, while two 21-year-olds, Juan Mina and Omar Valencia, and a 17-year-old, Tanner Rosborough, came off the bench in the second half.

An argument for promotion to the first team could have been made for many of the young players who won the MLS Next Pro Championship for the Red Bulls’ second team under Bradley last season, but the one most needed in this senior Red Bulls setup was midfielder Mehmeti.

It was a composed and controlled performance from box to box from the teenage midfielder, who finished the match with an 89% passing success, eight defensive contributions and one assist.

Rather than being a one-time injection of youth and energy to open the season, Bradley will consider Mehmeti and a few others for key starting roles throughout 2026, given their performance.

Crépeau leads the way

The quality of the Red Bulls’ offensive performance is also reflected in Orlando City goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau’s FotMob rating, which was the highest of any player on matchday one.

The Canadian made 11 saves in total and faced an xG on target of 5.63.

The Red Bulls created eight big chances but only scored two, and Crépeau’s performance was enough to keep Orlando with a chance of getting something out of the match, and the result was a narrow 2-1 defeat, when it could have been much more.

San Diego and Varas start strong

San Diego FC’s Mikey Varas is another American head coach looking to impress in his first senior head coaching role.

The 43-year-old propelled the 2025 expansion team to the top of the Western Conference standings in his first season in the league, and started 2026 in impressive fashion with a 5-0 win over CF Montreal.

This bodes well for another impressive season for the league’s newest team and another of its promising local coaches.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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