How important is winning the Leagues Cup for Inter Miami's 2025 season? | OneFootball

Herons to host Mexican sides Atlas, Necaxa and Pumas

Inter Miami won the club's first major trophy, the Leagues Cup, in thrilling fashion in 2023. With that hardware on Inter Miami's shelf and the Big Four -- Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez -- wearing the Pink in 2024, most supporters adopted a "been there, done that" attitude toward the Liga MX-Major League Soccer competition, turning their focus instead to the Concacaf Champions Cup and the domestic league title.

That was then. Despite the best efforts of Messi and his former Barcelona teammates, the Herons haven't come close to playing for hardware since losing the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship to Houston in September '23. Suddenly, the cash-grab competition between North America's top professional leagues has regained its luster -- especially because the top three finishers qualify for the Concacaf Champions Cup, Inter Miami's holy grail.

Liga MX and MLS are still tinkering with the format; this year, all 18 Mexican sides and 18 MLS sides will compete for the cup, with group play starting Tuesday. The Herons will host three "Phase One" matches: Atlas next Wednesday, Necaxa on Aug. 2, and Pumas on Aug. 6. The top four teams from each league after the group stage will advance to the knockout rounds, with the quarterfinals being played Aug. 19-20, the semifinals Aug. 26-27, and the third place and championship matches Aug. 31.

To be clear, the Inter Miami CF leadership has never disrespected the Leagues Cup; the Herons' brass always has maintained it wants to win every competition, every cup, every trophy on its way to becoming one of the world's most important teams. Which is, of course, exactly what fans expect them to say. But pundits, including myself, often dismiss club's official statements to identify the practical.

At the beginning of this year, it seemed clear to me that Los Garzas had a distinct wish list: MLS Cup, Champions Cup, Club World Cup, Leagues Cup, Supporters Shield and Open Cup, in that order. They lost in the Champions Cup semifinals to Vancouver Whitecaps, in the Club World Cup Round of 16 to Paris Saint-Germain and sent Inter Miami II to represent the Herons in the Open Cup (they lost in the second round).

With just the MLS Cup, Leagues Cup and Supporters Shield remaining and Miami starving for trophies, the Leagues Cup is suddenly much more appealing.

Forget "been there, done that." The Herons and their supporters need to embrace a different mantra: "We're in it, let's win it."