On the evening of February 7, Major League Soccer Miami International Team held a friendly match against the Kobe Victory Ship in Japan. Unlike the friendly match in Hong Kong three days ago, Argentina's Lionel Messi came on as a substitute in the game and played 30 minutes, showing that he was in good shape. In this way, the game in Hong Kong has also become the only one that Messi has missed in the current six pre-season friendlies. Several other players who have attracted more attention, including Suarez, who also did not appear in Hong Kong, started the game on the evening of the 7th. Previously, there have been many voices from the outside world questioning Messi and Miami International team to treat them differently, and the situation of this game has multiplied this doubt, as well as doubts about the integrity of Miami International and Messi himself.
Messi came on as a substitute in the 60th minute of the second half and threatened up front on a number of occasions. Source: Foreign media.
Messi is a player with a huge influence in the international sports world, and after helping Argentina win the championship at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, his personal popularity has peaked, and many fans regard him as an inspirational idol. This time, the Miami International team played a friendly match in Hong Kong, attracting nearly 40,000 spectators, and some mainland fans traveled from Xinjiang to Hong Kong for 12 hours to watch Messi. Hong Kong has invested great enthusiasm from top to bottom, and the SAR has made very good coordination arrangements. And Messi sat on the bench for the whole game, neither interacting with the crowd nor explaining the reason to the fans in person on the field as required. Considering this huge disparity, the disappointment of the SAR ** and the fans is completely justified. The impact of this matter extends far beyond sports.
It must be noted that the audience in Hong Kong generally showed extremely high quality and restrained behavior, which is worthy of a thumbs up. But being good-tempered doesn't mean being a good bully. After the competition, the Hong Kong Consumer Council received a total of 629 complaints as of the morning of the 7th, and a large number of spectators demanded a refund or at least compensation from the organizers. Many fans went to Messi and Inter Miami's social ** accounts to express their doubts.
In the exhibition match on the 4th, not only Messi sat on the whole court, but Suarez also did not play the whole game. The picture is from Hong Kong Sing Tao Net.
Perhaps there is a certain awareness of the seriousness of the problem. The organizers, Tatler, Messi himself and his team, launched a round of "crisis PR". According to their explanation, the main reason for not playing in Hong Kong is that Messi is "injured". Of course, the health of the players comes first, and everyone understands this, but the problem is that the organizers have been claiming that Messi will be on the pitch, which makes the fans feel cheated. Messi did not take any action to appease the disappointed fans at the scene, and did not apologize in the statement afterwards, and also said that he hoped to "have a chance to come back", which made the fans who already felt deceived feel that they were not respected. As for Messi's "vigorous tiger" in the Japanese arena, the doubts of the outside world have been further strengthened.
This is not the first time that Hong Kong has hosted a large-scale international football friendly match, but situations like Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are extremely rare. Messi and Inter Miami's explanations are unconvincing, and there is much speculation about the real reasons behind this, with one theory that the approach is politically motivated, that Hong Kong intends to create a mega event economy, and that there are external forces who are deliberately trying to embarrass Hong Kong. Judging from the development of the state of affairs, the possibility of such speculation cannot be ruled out.
The friendly match of Miami International in Asia is over, but Messi and Miami International can't just pat their butts and leave, leaving the fans and ** aside. For Messi, he is not only a player, but also a public figure, fans are not only appreciating his skills, but also examining his character, basic professionalism and contract spirit are the bottom line for him, and there are higher requirements such as social responsibility on top of this. If there are flaws and cracks in the minimum integrity, the attention surrounding him will cause a huge backlash. Messi's Argentine national football team is scheduled to come to China in March this year to participate in a friendly match, and I hope he will give a reasonable explanation to the outside world before that.
It should also be pointed out that some Westerners have lost no time in using this incident to smear Hong Kong, saying that it has affected Hong Kong's international image and reputation, which is simply nonsense. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR**) and its citizens handled the incident with great sincerity and restraint, and showed a high degree of civility and openness throughout the process. The venue is set up, and the guests who come do not behave well, which is a bit of a disappointment for the host at best. If you want to lose people, you can only lose Messi, Inter Miami and Tatler. What kind of attitude and performance should be shown in a normal friendly match, everyone has a scale in their hearts. There is no such thing as a star who will never be angry, only a love of football that will never be angry, and whoever wants to deviate from the original intention of the sport, no matter what the motive, will not end well.
*: Global Network.
Process edit: u060