Inter Miami’s MLS season came to an abrupt end after a first-round play-off exit at the hands of Atlanta United.
Having ended the regular-season with a record points haul and the Supporters’ Shield, Inter Miami went into the MLS play-offs as the strong favorites to go all the way and win MLS Cup with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets leading the charge.
However, as we know, the Herons lost the best-of-three series with Atlanta, with Inter Miami without Busquets for most of the matches as Tata Martino and his side crashed out of the play-offs at the first possible hurdle.
And pundit Herculez Gomez has had some hard words on Inter Miami’s play-off exit nearly a month since the final game against Atlanta.
Herculez Gomez slams Inter Miami’s ‘all-time’ play-off disaster
Speaking on ESPN FC, the former USA international slammed Inter Miami’s play-off exit as ‘one of the biggest failures’ in all of American sports given how many tools the Herons had at their disposal to go all the way in MLS Cup.
Gomez said: “We talk about which is the biggest failure between Cruz Azul or Inter Miami, who both had historic regular seasons in terms of points, and they both bowed out at the worst impromptu times post-season, and I was thinking: ‘How is this even a debate, it’s Inter Miami.’
“They had the best player of all time on their roster, who by the way, is the league MVP and they gave the keys to the kingdom to, he has actual ownership of Inter Miami, of MLS season-passes, Adidas money, they gave him the keys to the kingdom not to bow out to a ninth-place Atlanta United.
“It’s one of the biggest failures in MLS’s history, and you damn well know that every executive, Don Garber, whatever hair he had on his head, he’s pulling it out. You had one job, it’s one of the biggest failures I’ve seen in North American sports in quite some time.”
Javier Mascherano will be facing play-off pressure already at Inter Miami
The 2025 MLS season doesn’t start for another two months, yet for new Inter Miami manager Javier Mascherano, the Argentine coach will be feeling the pressure already to make the play-offs and to go far in the post-season.
With Mascherano keen on signing Angel Di Maria and Inter Miami still linked with the likes of Neymar, the Herons have big plans to bring in huge names this winter to help improve the squad to such an extent where the play-offs.
Indeed, 2025 is going to be a big year for Inter Miami, and the Florida franchise will want to do all they can to ensure Mascherano and his team can go the distance in the post-season with Messi leading the line.