MLS
David Beckham: Lionel Messi to play key role in USMNT winning the World Cup
The Inter Miami co-owner says the Argentina captain moving to MLS is about much more than just winning games and trophies.
The United States has become David Beckham’s second home. After his five-year spell as a player with the LA Galaxy, the former Real Madrid star is now living soccer through a different lens as co-owner of Inter Miami. Signing Lionel Messi has been the Floridians’ boldest move to date and the English believes the Barcelona icon can help inspire the USMNT to a World Cup win.
Speaking to World Soccer Talk’s Hot Ones Challenge, Beckham also revealed how he managed to convince the Argentina captain to leave Europe and move to MLS after his Paris Saint-Germain contract expired.
How did Beckham convince Messi to sign for Inter Miami?
“There’s only so far you can go on the business talk and contract talks. I think, player to player, I think it makes a huge difference. I came at as a player that had obviously moved from Real Madrid to the LA Galaxy. It’s a gift in a sense of I want to inspire the next generation of young kids that are playing in this country. Because at some point, the US will win the World Cup. At some point.
“And it needs moments like this where you bring someone of Leo’s magnitude. He’s good on the field, he’s good off the field. He’s the perfect professional. And so if you bring someone like that, then all of these young kids that are watching throughout America, going to watch him in their stadiums and in their city, get inspired. And that’s really what we wanted to do.”
Messi joined Inter Miami in June 2023 and led the team to a Leagues Cup victory within a month of signing. The Herons’ upturn has continued this year as they currently lead the Eastern Conference by eight points and the overall MLS standings by four.
Inter Miami’s long-term Messi plan
As Jorge Mas, Beckham’s fellow co-owner, explained a few months ago, the club have a long-term plan with Messi. The intention is for the 37-year-old to move into some kind of management role at the club once he retires from playing.
“It was very difficult to compete for his signing only on economic terms. But we had our city and everything it represents, it’s a place where his family could enjoy spending time. Miami is the unofficial capital of America, a bilingual city. The majority of the population has Hispanic roots from South and Central America and I think that was something that was extremely attractive for Lionel,” Mas said in an interview with The Times in 2023.
Beckham didn’t reveal when he thought the USMNT would win the World Cup, although his comments come less than two years before they host the 2026 edition, along with Mexico and Canada.