Thread by @mvsrapp

🇺🇸 The US football season is vastly different to what we're used to in Europe.

Here's everything you need to know about the MLS and all other competitions Messi can play in for Inter Miami!

[THREAD]

Firstly, the biggest difference is the football season in the US is confined to a single calendar year, starting in February and ending in November / early December.

So Messi joins Inter Miami 5 months into their 2023 season.

There are at least 3 trophies to compete for in a single season, with an additional 3 if you qualify.

👉 MLS (Supporters Shield)
👉 US Open Cup
👉 Leagues Cup

👉 MLS Cup ("playoffs")
👉 CONCACAF Champions Cup
👉 Campeones Cup

Let's explain what these competitions are...

🏆 MLS

Even the league is very different to a conventional European football league.

The MLS is split into two conferences, Eastern and Western, with Miami currently bottom of the Eastern Conference.

There are 29 teams in all - 15 in the Eastern and 14 in the Western.

Each team plays a total of 34 games - 2 games against every other side in their conference, and a handful of games against teams from the other conference.

The team that has the best record over both leagues at the end of the season is awarded the Supporters Shield.

🏆 MLS Cup / Playoffs

The top 9 teams from each conference qualify for the Conference Playoffs.

For each conference, the top 7 go straight into Round One, with 8th and 9th playing a best-of-3 series for the final spot in Round One.

So for each conference there is essentially:

A preliminary qualifying round between 8th and 9th
Quarter-Final stage
Semi-Final Stage
Final

The winner of each conference play-off series then meet in the MLS Cup Championship final!

Although the Supporter's Shield is more like a typical "league title" in terms of format, the MLS Cup is the more prestigious trophy and I believe the winners of this are more likely to be referred to as "MLS Champions".

🏆 US Open Cup

The US Open Cup is your typical knockout domestic cup competition that takes place over the course of the season. There are around 100 clubs that participate from the amateur level and above.

Side-note: perhaps the strangest thing about US football is despite having a tiered league system, there is no promotion or relegation.

So although Miami are currently bottom, Messi doesn't have to fear relegation!

You can read more about that here: goal.com/en-gb/news/exp…

🏆 Leagues Cup

The Leagues Cup was founded in 2019 and is an inter-league cup competition featuring all teams from the MLS and Mexico's Liga MX.

The MLS campaign is paused for this competition which this year will take place from July 21 - Aug 19.

It is this competition in which Lionel Messi will make his Inter Miami debut tomorrow night, against Cruz Azul of Mexico.

🏆 Campeones Cup

The Campeones Cup is another inter-league competition, but this time just a one-off Super Cup style match.

It is contested between the previous winners of the MLS Cup and the previous winners of Mexico's Campeón de Campeones match.

🏆 CONCACAF Champions Cup

This is North America's main continental competition - much like Europe's Champions League.

27 teams compete, with 5 receiving a bye straight into the Round of 16.

Here are the various ways in which Inter Miami can qualify for the Champions Cup...

Qualify straight for Round of 16
👉 Win the MLS Cup
👉 Win the Leagues Cup

Qualify for Round One
👉 Win their Conference league
👉 Finish top 4 in Supporters Shield standings
👉 Win the US Open Cup
👉 Finish runners up or 3rd in Leagues Cup

So... Inter Miami have had a terrible season under Phil Neville, but the arrival of Messi has seen a wave of change.

Only 1 MLS team since 2005 has made the playoffs after being in last place at least 20 matches into a season (D.C. United in 2018).

Could they do it?