Photo: GIORGIO VIERA
Jason Smith & Mike Harmon are in for Dan Patrick this morning and they’re bullish on Major League Soccer now that Lionel Messi is dazzling fans of Inter Miami. The Argentinian superstar has his new squad in the Leagues Cup Final on Saturday and Jason & Mike think this is the beginning of the log awaited breakthrough for soccer in the U.S. While they acknowledge that people have been predicting just such a breakthrough in the sport for 30 years or more, Messi is making it inevitable.
Jason Smith: “The era of soccer in the mainstream in the United States not only is here and here to stay, in the next five years we’ll be talking about the MLS alongside the NBA and Major League Baseball as the four major sports in this country...We’ve been waiting for that era of soccer to arrive and it’s finally here. I know (people are like) ‘I’ve been hearing this for 30 years!’ No, the time is now and (Lionel) Messi is the cherry on top of this cake.”
Mike Harmon: “Well, it doesn’t mean there weren’t a bunch of false starts, right? But here’s a player that might break through...”