Messi vs. Muller in MLS Cup shows how far the league has come, but does anyone care?

I’m guessing, you probably forgot it.

This can apply to anything that has happened of MLS In this weather. Apple TV has a double paywall behind most of the league’s matches And Fewer people were watching MLS Season Pass, America’s domestic soccer league in its final full season before the 2026 World Cup.

Of course, we can’t confirm those numbers because every trillion-dollar streamer keeps its viewership data as secure as Area 51. And every time someone with knowledge of data talks about data, we have no reason to believe what they say because, well, they have no reason to tell us the truth. Take MLS Commissioner Don Garber notes Viewership has increased “by approximately 50% compared to last year” since the beginning of this season. Meanwhile, league-wide attendance is Below From last season. There’s only one of those two things a verifiable fact,

All this despite the league getting exactly what it wanted: Lionel Messi just had the best season in mls history,

In short, Messi scored more non-penalty goals than ever before and got more assists than anyone expected. Not only that, he got inter miami After winning the MLS Cup Final, the team won its last three games by a combined score of 13–1. And they will face each other on Saturday Thomas Muller and this vancouver whitecapsWho removed the hugely successful expansion franchise san diego fc After defeating in the Western Conference Finals son hyung-min And LAFC In cm.

The expansion is working, superstars are beating other superstars in the playoffs, and Messi still has a game left.

Yet, for this to work well, it would require an incredible level of corporate mismanagement for Messi’s first MLS Cup to somehow still become nothing more than background noise – a background whisper. 2026 world cup draw And both the American and European sports calendars this weekend.

This leaves all kinds of room for the narrative to be filled by those who don’t watch the league, who only see or hear of elderly millennials like Messi and Muller dominating the competition. Gareth Bale Expressing sadness that sports have no importance as there is no promotion and demotion. “It’s paid leave for retirees!”

It’s a shame, too, because behind the multilevel paywalls and bad boardroom decisions lies a league where actual football – how the ball moves around the field, how the players react to it – is actually getting better every year.

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what did mls look like

Let’s go back to 2012. Chivas USA was still a thing, and they were captained by ESPN’s own Alejandro Moreno. There were only 19 teams in the league, more than half of which made the playoffs.

The league’s Comeback Player of the Year was Seattle’s Eddie Johnson, who returned from a dreadful five-year stint in Europe, where he had scored a total of four goals in 31 league starts. Robbie Keane, Thierry Henry, David Beckham and Landon Donovan were all in the league but none of them won MVP – no, that award went to Chris Wondolowski san jose earthquakeThe three forwards in the league’s best XI from 2012 serve as a snapshot of a very specific time in league history: Keane, Henry and Wondo,

There was a competition between them in the playoff DC United and this New York Red Bulls The match ended in a 1-1 draw after both teams scored their respective goals. Ultimately, despite finishing the regular season in fourth place in their own conference, the Galaxy had all of their starters ready for the postseason and won their second consecutive MLS Cup behind Keane’s six playoff goals. This was Beckham’s final season in the league; After this he played 10 league 1 matches for Paris Saint Germain Before retiring.

When I think of this era of MLS, “good soccer” isn’t one of the two-word phrases that immediately comes to mind. And I think this graphic sums it up:

In 2012 MLS, possession was changing less frequently than in any of the Big Five top European leagues. And the ball was in play less often than in any of the Big Five leagues. There was less of the most exciting part of football – the transition – and even less football.

Furthermore, MLS teams were attempting fewer take-ons than any major European league, and they were pressing less offensively than almost everyone else, as measured by PPDA (passes per defensive action):

Whereas MLS looks a bit more like Premier League And League 1 There, it’s important to remember that this was the modern low point for English football. chelsea Sure, the 2012 Champions League was won, but it was one of the most improbable European Cup wins ever. instead, spain And Germany were the leading stars of European football barcelona, real MadridJurgen Klopp’s borussia dortmund And Bayern Munich Defining the era.

The game at the highest level had become a fusion of the two countries’ tendencies: high-intensity athleticism and world-class technical precision. In 2012, MLS offered spectators neither.

What does MLS look like today

In a broad sense, MLS has improved almost every year since 2012. The number of turnovers in the attacking third has increased steadily for almost a decade before falling slightly in the last few seasons. Still, we’re way above where we were 13 years ago:

And while the increase in turnovers can also be used as an argument for poor play – more turnovers, the argument could go, means more careless passing – that is canceled out by the league’s steadily improving pass-completion rate.

Teams that gain possession more often in the attacking third and teams that complete their passes more often is a healthy combination. This means that clubs are taking more risks defensively than before, and clubs are able to maintain possession against high-pressing defence. From a big-picture stylistic standpoint, you want this kind of push-and-pull – one where no one viewpoint completely dominates the other – if you want your league to be interesting to watch.

This also coincided with a change in the type of players coming into the league. In 2020, according to data from consultancy Twenty First Group, the average transfer signing cost €4 million and the average age was 25 years. In 2025, both the average signing price (€2.4 million) and age (24) declined. Additionally, teams earned €161 million upcoming Transfer fee in 2025.

So while there are still a lot of aging headline stars, the league has finally begun to establish itself as a player development league where young players can come through before heading to Europe. And thanks to the changing player pool, if we look at the same chart from before but fast forward to today, MLS is no longer a slow league where possession never changes hands and the ball is never in play. No, that’s Italy now:

In 2012, MLS also stood out in how its teams prepared for each match. According to Stats Perform data, the league’s most commonly used formation at the time was a simple 4–4–2. In the Big Five leagues, the 4–2–3–1 was more than twice as popular as any other formation in the 2011–12 season.

This year, the 4-2-3-1 has been the most popular formation in MLS, more than twice as popular as the No. 2: 4-3-3. Have slipped to third place with 4-4-2. The most popular formation in the Big Five leagues in 2024-25? Yes, still 4-2-3-1.

Now, even if they are playing like them, MLS teams are still nowhere near the quality of those European leagues. But it’s undeniable that the teams overall are much better than they were in 2012.

Among all MLS teams since 2012, this season’s Whitecaps rank in the 90th percentile or better for shots, expected goals, pull backs, touches inside the opposition box and final-third-adjusted possession. In terms of being able to control the ball and then use the ball to create a high level of offensive threat, there are not many better sides in the history of the league.

And Inter Miami? Well, they have Messi and his Barcelona friends. This means that, somehow, they both play a lower percentage of their passes than any MLS team since 2012 and they have attempted more through balls than all but five other teams over the same period. Put more simply, he has scored 98 goals this season – 12 more than anyone else since the league began.

Sunday’s MLS Cup final manages to be both a marketing dream matchup between the two best players from the 2014 World Cup finals and a fascinating stylistic matchup between two very different but equally exciting teams in 2025.

The league should not have been able to provide star power And Really interesting football at the same time. It was supposed to be a choice between the two: build around old guys who can’t run and abandon the product, or build around low-value non-names who can give you something interesting on the field. However, somehow, the league has both.

And somehow, no one really cares.