February 21, 2026. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The attendance at the opening of the season in the MLS was nearly 75 thousand people crowded into a 102-year-old concrete monstrosity, and boy, did they have a show. Just not the one most of them paid for.
This was to be the Lionel Messi show. The incumbent MLS MVP, the guy who would have notched 29 goals in 2025 and his second consecutive Golden Boot, was in town. The same was so with Son Heung-min, the LAFC blockbuster
summer signing who had shaken the league upon arrival when he joined the club in August 2025. Nothing like this had ever been attempted by the league as an opener – hauling the game out of the cozy BMO Stadium and into this historic monster simply to lock in the Messi effect.
But LAFC didn’t read the script.
The Setup
As champions of the MLS Cup, Inter Miami entered the tournament with a 3-1 victory over Vancouver. But 2026 was a great change. Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba retired. Instead, they have: Dayne St. Clair, 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Month, and a new Designated Player striker, Germán Berterame, of Monterey. Messi, De Paul and Suarez still got the attack through, but this time it was a different Miami side.
This was a seismic shift in LAFC. This changed with the coming of Son Heung-min in August 2025. And together with Denis Bouanga, who had come second only to Messi in the race to win the Golden Boot with his 24 goals, they would have made one of the most deadly duets in the history of MLS. Once Son joined, the two had 25 goals and 8 assists. They even made a record in the MLS by scoring 18 goals on the trot on behalf of the club; this was between the end of August and early October.
His team was drilled by the new head coach, Marc Dos Santos, who was promoted to the position of assistant coach in December 2025. Afterwards, he said, “We practised to be the best Messi. “When he is running towards you, it is an issue, and we made sure to have numbers around him.”
What Went Down
LAFC dominated this match. They outshot Miami 10-3 in the first half and never really let up. The first goal was scored in the 38th minute – Son slipped a perfect pass to David Martinez, who curled it past St. Clair into the far corner. It was the fourth assist of 2026 of Son set in only two matches, and it shut the pink shirts in the crowd.
Miami had moments. Messi rattled the bar with a left-footed, outside-the-box strike. His pass, through to Berterame, was a skilful ball, which, however, was passed wide by the striker. Yet they were half-chances at best, and the LAFC back four of Eddie Segura, Ryan Porteous, Nkosi Tafari and Sergi Palencia were not so much flawed as they are almost perfect. Hugo Lloris saved three times and hardly had to work hard.
Then there came the match. In the 73rd minute, Timmy Tillman threw a long ball into the air, Bouanga outran St. Clair, crossed it to himself above the head of the keeper, and scored in an empty net with such casual impertinence. It was the 105th of his goals in an LAFC jersey and made him the all-time leading scorer in club history. He had surpassed the record of 93 that Carlos Vela had in September 2025.
Finishing with a Bouanga cross, Nathan Ordaz was able to add the dagger in stoppage time, as it made it 3-0. Game, set, match.
Then Bouanga and Messi exchanged shirts on the field – Bouanga requested him to do so, and his son got to have Messi’s number 10. Bouanga said that the game was always special due to Messi. It was like a long-time dream to beat Miami and Messi.
The Fallout
This was LAFC’s ninth straight season-opening win — a league record. They have never beaten Miami, and the three times they have defeated it, it has been by a shutout. In the case of Miami, it was a sweet-sour memory that winning a championship is more than having star power. They possessed 63.3 per cent but produced little of importance. Messi wandered in, attempted his magic, but met walls around every turn.
The frightening aspect to the rest of the league? This was achieved when LAFC was not at their best. Dos Santos rated his team on defence an A+ and possession a B only. “We can be much better,” he said. And we would like to be a lot better.
For Miami, there are 33 games left. Messi will have time to get into the rhythm with the new pieces. However, this time, before the second-largest crowd ever witnessed by MLS, the news was the Argentine magician. The Frenchman played with him better, the Korean laid the table, and the team went about the whole thing like it was another day in the office.
The Return Match
This visit to California was the only visit of Messi to California in 2026, as per the official preview of LAFC. When these two meet once again, it will be in the playoffs. And in accordance with what we saw at the Coliseum, Miami will have to bring out something exceedingly different if they want something different out of it.
Because LAFC, at the moment, seems like the team to beat. The message planned by the Black and Gold to the whole league was: the star power is not everything to counteract a team that is organised and hungry, and the event does not count.
Leave a Reply