The March plan for Florida was simple: buy expensive soccer game tickets, fly to Ft Lauderdale, see god. I am talking about Messi. Soccer is at best the distant fourth popular sport in the US after football, basketball and baseball. Yet, Messi has become the most popular US athlete since joining Inter Miami CF last July. He is 36 years old. In the demanding contact sport of soccer, he is as aged as a dinosaur. His star power peaks further after he won the World Cup for Argentina. With the diminishing opportunities to see Messi magic live, there is little time left to earn the bragging right “we have seen the soccer GOAT”. Injury and retirement can happen any moment. He did not play in the Hong Kong stop of the pre-season world tour. He has only one or two seasons playing for Inter Miami. These cemented our plan to go catch him. Until the game starts, it is anybody’s guess if Messi would show up on the pitch.
We pushed luck to our side by following what the Inter Miami coach said : “The Concacaf Champions Cup will be the most important game(s) of the year”. Messi is more likely to play in home games in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. Few know Inter Miami narrowly won the game against Nashville last season to grasp the first ever team cup, in the nail-biting penalty shootout. We bet that if there is any game Messi will most likely show up, it will be this Concacaf game featuring Inter Miami vs Nashville in Florida.
We still needed luck after lining up the stars. Luck was on our side.
The game time was 8:15pm. Before the pilgrimage to see Messi, we visited the Everglades National Park (NP) located slightly over an hour’s drive away.
Everglades NP is unlike any other NP we have visited. It has limited parking spaces, and we had to wait for enough cars to get out before we could get in. We waited for about an hour. The time went by fast. There was this couple of colorful Halloween pennant dragonflies hopping around, inviting us to picture them. There was this peaceful stream of water. The visitor center was within a short walking distance, making it arguably the shortest walk to any NP visitor center from the entrance station. The visitor center has exhibits and gifts that help to kill time with meaningful information.
The Everglades NP is unique in another way. It is not hikers friendly. There are some paved roads, little trails, and hardly any shades. In May, we felt the warmth already. Instead, the park offers a 2-hour tram ride every hour, and a bike rental for visitors. The tram-ride is first come first served. It was a very enjoyable ride, with diverse geological landscape, alligators of all sizes, lovely blue herons, elegant egrets, colorful purple gallinule and muscular anhinga. It is one of the best NP to visit without prior planning. The park is full of life especially in this season of Spring.
We rested in the hotel briefly to build up the energy for the Chase Stadium pilgrimage.
We arrived at the Chase Stadium about 3 hours before the game time at 8:15pm. We were hardly alone. There were families. There were several food trucks outside. There were boys playing soccer and I was hit by the soccer a few times. It was a lively atmosphere. No-one seemed to be in a hurry. Truth be told, we expected the fan zones to have more activities for the fans like other sport events. We expected better food choices. We expected better facilities for the over $200 per person ticket we have paid. The stadium looked dated too.
The impression did not improve, when we got into the stadium with over an hour to spare. We were surprised that the gift store was no more than a line for the most enthusiastic fans. It was just a place to order exactly the products you have in mind. There was no shopping experience. It was a buying experience. We were surprised with the portable toilets. We were surprised with the limited food choices inside the stadium.
With little to visit, we were among the earliest to take our seats. We had plenty of time to take pictures. After some waiting, the visiting Nashville team started their warm-up first, followed by the Inter Miami home team. From the practice, we could guess the starters. It felt like waiting for the dream to come true to see all four ex-Barcelona stars (Messi, Suarez, Alba, and Busquet) as starters. We were lucky. The Messi effect was felt through the stadium every time his name was mentioned by the announcer, followed by the “Messi” chanting.
The Inter Miami vs Nashville Game started on time as expected. Inter Miami scored the first goal within the first 10 minutes by Suarez with an assist from Messi. It was a beautiful play. Everyone in the stadium was on their feet, with cheers, drumbeat, drum roll, and firework. What a moment. Shortly after, Messi scored himself. The Nashville team played well enough to keep the atmosphere tense and keep us in suspense. As the second half began, I noticed Messi had that uncommon hands-on-knees position that came across as strange at first. Within seconds, he turned over his captain armband to another Inter Miami player, and walked towards the bench. Simultaneously, the substitute board was raised, and he was substituted. I sensed that he may have an injury and the substitute was unplanned.
We have watched the soccer god play live – Messi assisted, scored, and then seemingly injured. What an unbelievable experience of a lifetime. It was not quite the same as checking the bucket list of watching the World Soccer Cup live. This one seemed even sweeter. We felt that we watched on behalf of the many HongKongers who were heartbroken when Messi did not play in the Inter Miami pre-season stop in Hong Kong. That Messi Mess in Hong Kong was something to be forgotten.
Before we flew out the next afternoon, we took a 45-minute airboat ride at the Sawgrass recreation park. The lobster claw scoobies served in the Coconut Seafood were exceptionally delicious, and spent some time on the Ft Lauderdale beaches. The beaches, the bars and the lounges screamed to tell us that this was the Spring break week of the college students.
oliviatamccue 