The 2026 MLS season kicks off on Saturday night with a collision between soccer icons.
The Opening Night matchup features LAFC hosting reigning MLS Cup champion Inter Miami at BMO Stadium. The match marks Lionel Messi’s first and only scheduled trip to Los Angeles this season, as his arrival carries with it the weight of the man who wears the crown.
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Across from the 2025 MLS MVP stands Hollywood’s newest leading man wearing black and gold. Son Heung-min, the captain of the South Korea national team — and now the newfound leader of LAFC’s championship aspirations.
If MLS wanted a billboard for what it has become, this match is it.
Last year, Messi lifted the MLS Cup in Miami and waved goodbye to familiar Barcelona shadows. This winter, Miami reloaded like a club chasing a dynasty, not nostalgia. They added Dayne St. Clair in goal, reinforced their back line and brought in Germán Berterame to free up Messi to operate as the No. 10 again. On paper, it’s the deepest roster MLS has seen in years.
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But on the pitch, it comes with a glaring target for opponents.
And that target now has to prepare for the bright lights of Los Angeles.
LAFC enters its first full season with Son, who detonated onto the league last summer after leaving Tottenham. Sonny had 12 goals and four assists in 13 matches, and nearly led the black and gold back to the MLS Cup Final, if not for a dramatic penalty-kick shootout in Vancouver that saw Son miss the PK that would have sent LAFC to the Final.
Denis Bouanga, the Gabonese flamethrower, piled up 24 goals and nearly stole the Golden Boot award from Messi. Early transfer rumors and offers from other clubs had Bouanga leaving the club for Brazil, but as of now, LAFC has hung on to its star in the hopes that a full season together with Son will lead to more hardware for the black and gold.
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But star power alone doesn’t win trophies.
Inter Miami star Lionel Messi dribbles. REUTERS
Head coach Marc Dos Santos inherits opportunity and pressure. Promoted after Steve Cherundolo returned to Germany for family reasons, Dos Santos knows MLS, knows the locker room and knows expectations in this city are never whispered. LAFC went 17-8-9 last season, third in the West, and bowed out in the conference semifinals. Good is not the goal here. A second MLS Cup trophy is.
The roster gives him tools. Stephen Eustáquio arrives on loan from FC Porto, a metronome capable of snapping the tempo from frantic to surgical. Jacob Shaffelburg adds direct pace on the flank. Amin Boudri brings U22 creativity over from Sweden. Tyler Boyd returns from a long-term knee injury with a veteran edge. And if Aaron Long’s Achilles holds through the spring, LAFC’s spine stiffens considerably.
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There are departures, too. Frankie Amaya’s loan expired. Andrew Moran went back to Brighton. Luca Bombino’s homegrown chapter ended with a full transfer. That churn is MLS in 2026 — cash flowing more freely between clubs, players moving intra-league with a pragmatism the old guard once resisted. The league’s three-decade evolution has finally embraced its own ecosystem.
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Yet all roads this weekend lead to Messi.
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He isn’t just defending a trophy; he’s potentially preparing for a World Cup on American soil this summer. MLS will pause for the tournament, releasing stars to their national teams before resuming in July. Son will captain South Korea. Eustáquio and Shaffelburg may wear Canada red. Dozens of MLS players will vanish into international duty, leaving managers to balance fatigue, rhythm and ego when they return.
This is the season’s shadow storyline: How do you build continuity when your best players are living two lives?
Miami believes it has insulated itself with depth. LAFC believes chemistry beats depth. Saturday won’t decide the Cup, but it will reveal who has the early edge.
There’s also something deeper at play. MLS in 2026 is no longer begging for relevance. It is selling it. Thomas Müller in Vancouver. James RodrÃguez in Minnesota. Timo Werner in San Jose. Facundo Torres back in Austin. The league has become a launching pad and a landing strip. Young talents use it to leap. Veterans use it to recalibrate. The overall product in the U.S. and Canada is better for it.
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Miami won’t sit deep and admire the script. They’ll press, they’ll rotate and they’ll dare LAFC’s midfield to handle chaos. If Eustáquio can dictate possession and if the back line resists Messi’s gravitational pull, LAFC can turn this opening game into a statement.
Son Heung-min. AP
But if the defensive lapses that haunted them late last year resurface, Messi will carve them open like a surgeon tracing a scar.
The beauty of Opening Day is its honesty. No excuses about fatigue. No table math. Just who’s better in February.
Is LAFC a contender ready to dethrone the defending champions? Or a glamour project that still needs to learn under a new coach?
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Saturday night under the Los Angeles lights, against the champions, we’ll begin to find out.
