Lionel Messi commands the spotlight everywhere he goes and, if you don’t understand how or why, you probably haven’t followed this sport very closely. Few people in sporting history have been the subject of more attention. No matter what Messi does, the world watches.
Throughout his career, though, Messi has had plenty of sidekicks to help carry that spotlight, and none have been better than Luis Suarez. If Messi was the lead singer of the Barcelona band, Suarez was the drummer behind him, the man smashing the snares and hi-hats with brute force while also ensuring the group’s rhythm never fell apart.
Messi has built himself a familiar band in Miami. It features Sergio Busquets, the midfield tone-setter, and Jordi Alba, the dynamic fullback whose solo efforts create some of Messi’s best moments of magic. It’s Suarez, though, that has been the standout. Yes, even more so than Messi. Even in the twilight of his career, Suarez continues to set the tone, for better or worse.
Generally, Miami has seen the ‘better’ part of Suarez so far this season. The Uruguayan is leading from the front, picking up the slack during Messi’s recent absence. And, because of that, it’s Suarez, not Messi, who has emerged as Miami’s key player. The Uruguayan icon, therefore, may be the player most likely to determine this team’s success or failure by the time all is said and done.
Initial concerns
When Suarez arrived, there were major doubts, and it was easy to see why. The man himself said his knees were gone. By signing up to play in a league as rough on the body as MLS, the 37-year-old forward was taking a massive, massive risk.
You could understand why he would do it, though, as it was a chance to play with his friends as part of a fun project. Messi and Suarez have been close for years, and so laying alongside him while enjoying everything Miami has to offer? How could he say no?
That’s largely the off-field part of this, though. How Suarez fared on the field would dictate how he his Miami career was measured. He shown few signs of slowing down at previous club Gremio, scoring 29 goals in 54 games for the Brazilian outfit. But could he do it in MLS, where turf fields, short turnarounds and long flights were the norm?
In hindsight, it was crazy to doubt him. This was Suarez, after all.
Turning back the clock
Busquets was fighting the good fight back in January. Long before Suarez even stepped on the field for Inter Miami, his longtime Barca teammate was backing him to score boatloads of goals in MLS.
“We’re very excited,” Busquets said earlier this year. “He’s very excited. We know what to expect from him. He has scored goals his entire career. He just won the best player of the Brazilian League, which is very challenging and tough league. He scored many goals, many assists and hopefully he’s coming here to continue with that streak.”
Well, Busquets was right. Suarez has already scored many goals, provided a few assists and, most importantly, helped Inter Miami survive without Messi in the matches the Argentine missed.
In just eight MLS games, six of which were starts, Suarez has already scored six goals while providing three assists. That’s a goal contribution every 60 minutes or so. As a striker, you’ll absolutely take that. You can add two goals and two assists from Miami’s CONCACAF Champions Cup run, too, even if that ended prematurely.
Making it all the more impressive is that Suarez has shone in the moments Messi has been gone. He was brought in to be the finisher to Messi’s creator, but oftentimes, Suarez has had to do both. He scored three goals in the games Messi missed, helping keep Miami afloat during that stretch.
“We know it’s a long season, we have a lot of injuries, but we have a big team and we have a lot of really good players that can replace the others,” Suarez said of Messi’s absence. “Play continues, if the team stays together and keeps going forward that’s the focus.”
Miami, of course, are at their best when Messi is involved. Suarez, though, has been just as important this season.
Firing back at the critics
Oftentimes, footballers say they don’t pay attention to the doubters or the critics. And, oftentimes, they’re lying. Athletes at that level are acutely aware of what’s going on around them, even if they say they aren’t. Suarez, though, isn’t shy about saying it. No, he’s glad to be proving his doubters wrong.
“From an individual standpoint, I am happy to be able to help the team,” he said after scoring in a 5-0 rout of Orlando City in March. “A striker and professional soccer player has to be accustomed to living with daily criticism. People in soccer do not have memory, so in that sense I am very used to it. I have been playing professional soccer for almost 20 years, so I do not worry about things that people might be saying.”
Suarez’s new teammate Julian Gressel says that Suarez has used the criticism as fire, helping him rediscover his old self rather early in the season.
“It was perfect because look at him now,” Gressel said. “He’s getting more comfortable. I think it’s something that you can’t just write off, in a sense, where you can’t just be coming into a new team and a new club, a new city for the family, everything. It takes a little bit of time and that happened for him, that happened for me, those things just are just normal.
“And for him to be called out a little bit, I think helped him to kind of get that edge where now he’s clinical and he’s the Suarez we’ve known, so he can come in and change the game like he did for us.”
That edge has certainly shown itself. There have been plenty of moments that have felt like vintage Suarez, the good and the bad.
Same old Suarez
If you thought Suarez would mellow out a bit as he aged, think again. No, the Suarez that has arrived in Miami comes with the same fervor and chaos as the one that dazzled in Liverpool and Barcelona. He may know how to walk the line a little bit better but, boy, does he walk it.
It’s what makes Suarez one of the most polarizing players of a generation, if not the sport’s history. Where he goes, controversy follows. Some see Suarez as a player with an unmatched will to win, no matter the cost. Others see him as an unsportsmanlike figure who will be remembered as much for the controversies he created as the goals he scored.
Thus far, there have been no real controversies, but there have been a few close calls. Suarez remains as physical as ever, and as irritable, too. Opponents and referees have felt his wrath. Monterrey’s Victor Guzman was lucky not to have his arm broken by Suarez as the clock ticked away on Inter Miami’s CONCACAF Champions Cup campaign. Officials have heard plenty from the Uruguayan, too, dating all the way back to his debut against Al-Hilal during preseason.
He’s only earned two yellow cards this season, surprisingly enough, but Miami will take whatever tradeoff comes from Suarez finding that side of himself. When in that kind of mood, Saurez has always been unplayable, and it’s clear that he cares enough to discover it during his time in Miami.
Accolades coming in
If the MLS MVP was to be decided today, Suarez may just be the frontrunner. Now, there’s a long way to go and a lot of season left to play, but you can’t deny that Suarez has shown up in a big way early on.
The Uruguayan has already earned some accolades in these early weeks of his Miami career, earning MLS Player of the Month honors for February and March. By earning that recognition, Suarez became the first Inter Miami player in the club’s first history to win such an award. That includes Messi, whose major exploits came in the Leagues Cup last season, not in MLS.
Last week, MLSSoccer.com unveiled their first MLS MVP Power Rankings, and it was Suarez who led the list. He’s also firmly in the Golden Boot race, too, level with four other players on six goals, with only Real Salt Lake’s Chico Arango ahead of him due to his one extra assist.
It’s early, and Miami still has a long march ahead of them. Suarez, meanwhile, will have a lot of games to play on those aging legs. It remains to be seen how many he’ll be able to play this season and how long he’ll go before hitting burnout mode.
At least so far, though, Suarez is shining and, if he can keep up this pace, he’ll be among the frontrunners for MVP all season long.
Dreaming of more
When Suarez arrived in Miami, he set lofty goals. “The best word we players have to have is to dream: dreaming big,” Suarez said. “To dream is to want to win.”
He set his sights on winning everything on offer. That won’t happen, though. Miami’s loss to Monterrey in the CCC ensured that they wouldn’t win everything. An MLS Cup, though, remains very possible. So much will depend on Suarez, though.
Messi will be Messi, whenever he’s on the field. As players like Benjamin Cremaschi and Federico Redondo return to full fitness, the midfield will sort itself out, too. The defense… Well, that’s a whole other story, one that could prove to be the team’s undoing.
A great No.9, though, makes all the difference. Leonardo Campana is good, offering Miami a fantastic backup for the games Suarez will inevitably miss, but the Uruguayan is an all-time great for a reason. If he can keep rolling, Miami will head into every game knowing they have a chance to light teams up.
Messi will continue to earn the headlines. He’ll dominate the news cycle, sell more jerseys and, more than likely, make many of Miami’s key moments possible this season. Suarez, though, is Miami’s wildcard, in more ways than one. An MVP-like run may be just starting for a player who clearly believes he still has much to prove even at age 37.
