Taylor Twellman on the impact of Lionel Messi in MLS
Taylor Twellman, lead analyst for Apple TVs coverage of Major League Soccer, joined the Felger and Massarotti show on Wednesday afternoon with Mazz, Jim Murray and Joe Murray to talk about the impact that Lionel Messi has had on MLS. Taylor also gave us an update on the Bruce Arena situation with the New England Revolution.
TRANSCRIPT:
Jim Murray: I’d imagine your gig probably just got a hell of a lot more fun over the last month or so with the Lionel Messi takeover?
Taylor Twellman: Yeah, a little bit more fun. Hang on a minute. Messi needs me. He’s going to the bathroom. I got to make sure he’s okay. Yeah, he’s good. He’s good to go.
Jim Murray: But is his dominant he’s been so dominant that it almost maybe makes the league look a little bad?
Taylor Twellman: It’s a great question, but no, and here’s why. This is the ninth time in his career for the first six games, playing for a new guy, a new club, or in a new season, he has scored in the first six games. They go on each game. So eight of those were with Barcelona, Right? So I get the question. I understand the question, but I just think this is an anomaly. This is something that makes Lionel Messi, he won the World Cup eight months ago against the best team in the world in France, and he made those defenders look bad. He scored seven goals in that tournament. I think it’s more of an anomaly, but I understand the question because nobody saw it. He would come in at 36 years old, scored nine goals in his first six games. Yet here we are in the sports I’m talking about Lionel Messi and inter Miami. Nine times in his career the first six games of a season or the first six games with a new club he has scored in six straight games. Eight of those were with Barcelona. The ninth time is now with Inter Miami. So he’s done this, Tony, throughout his entire career.
Mazz: Okay. So this is a guy then who likes to make a statement, right? That’s what you’re telling us, that he comes out of the gate either at the start of the season or when he joins a team and says, I’m going to put my stamp on this team right away.
Taylor Twellman: Yes, absolutely. The other thing he likes to do, he likes to win. He’s won 43 trophies in his life that is tied for the most ever. And if he wins this, he will have more than anyone. The person he’s tied with is not Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s Danny Alves, who played for Barnes for Barcelona and for Brazil. So think about that, guys. We love the goats in this city. We love guys that play well in big moments, but we love guys that win. The Boston sports fan would love that Lionel Messi, because not only does he deliver, but more importantly, he wins 43 trophies is absurd.
Mazz: Okay. So let me ask you this, Taylor, because the at the moment Inter Miami is actually playing in the league’s cup, correct? Yeah. So this is one of those independent tournaments. This is not the MLS. I mean, there are MLS teams in it, right? But this is a you know, it’s sort of a separate event. So it is this you know, again, I hate to come back to the fluky question, but his level of dominance, what are the variables here that is adding to this.
Taylor Twellman: Adding to it that he brought his two best friends, Barcelona educated Barcelona friends. So, it’s no different than a quarterback saying I’m bringing my tight end wide receiver with me. He brought Sergio Busquets, who’s arguably the best defensive midfielder of his generation. I get it, he’s 35, but he’s still playing at a different level, and he brought his left back his best friend since he was 15 with Barcelona and Jordi Alba, who’s got one of the best left foots we’ve ever seen. He’s got more assists than anyone still playing on Lionel Messi, his goals, so he brought that in. You also on top of that, Tony had one of the best continental managers, someone he knows who coached Messi. Bruce gets Alba at Barcelona. He coached Messi at Argentina. So it’s not just Lionel Messi. Listen, I get it right. He’s got nine goals in six games. But when you look at the collection of this team in the 22 regular season games into this tournament, Miami scored 22 goals in the six games of this tournament. They’ve scored 21. It’s the collection in the combination of everything. It’s not just Messi. I get it. Everyone listening is going to say you’re out of your coconut 12 minutes, nine goals in six games. But it’s Bruce gets it’s Alba, it’s the manager. It’s three young players coming back from injury are new signings. It’s been the entire operation and it’s a upheaval of the operation I should say is a better word. That’s brought a lot to this. That’s the caveat.
Mazz: Okay. So this is actually what I was going to ask you. And I lost my train of thought that when I was looking at it. Taylor, Miami sacked. Yeah. they were the worst. Team in the MLS. And just to put it into context for people. Where is the MLS in the hierarchy of leagues around the world?
Taylor Twellman: I would say right now at the present moment, you can make an argument that Major League Soccer’s probably 11th, 10th, ninth best league in the world. Now that can differ for many a ways, but just for the for the sports fan in the United States, it’s in the conversation for top ten leagues in the world. It may be just on the outside, but that’s where it is now. They are the only league in the world, though, Tony. And for the American sports fan, we don’t understand anything different. They’re the only league in the world that has a salary cap. They’re the only league in the world that you can’t spend as much money as you want to. Manchester City has spent over two and a half billion dollars on players over the last six years. Major League Soccer teams don’t. They operate in the American sports landscape, which on some level at times hurts them when you try to compare them with the rest of the leagues in the world.
Messi walked out with Harper Seven Beckham 💕 pic.twitter.com/8r76QD3Oc2
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 12, 2023
Mazz: Okay. But you understand why I’m asking you this. Yes, of course. All right. So you just said it’s the 10th best league in the world and this is the worst team in the league. That is the 10th best league in the world. And he has completely turned the thing upside down.
Taylor Twellman: We’ve turned it upside down.
Mazz: They’ve won all six games, right? One of them went to kicks, but they won that one too.
Taylor Twellman: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s a technicality, right? It’s stupid. It’s typical soccer stuff where you’re like, That’s a tie. Whatever. They won, they advance. They’ve won five, they’ve tied one. They have lost. They’ve scored 21 goals in six games, guys. And so I listen, I don’t love basketball in the analogy of the basketball, because if you add LeBron James or one player to it, you’re going to win 65% of the games in this sport. This does not happen because if it did, Messi would have three World Cups. Renaldo would have three World Cups, but they don’t match. He’s got one. Ronaldo doesn’t have one. And so the point being is that if Messi shows up, sure, they’re better. But you put that with bruschetta, Alba and everyone else lists. They haven’t played an MLS regular season game yet. Guys, this is still a tournament. But the reason why the magnitude of this tournament is so important is last night they host Philadelphia. Since 2020, the best defense in the league. They’ve lost one game in the last 38 games in that building and they blew them out of the building. They guaranteed themselves a place. What is the version of the CONCACAF Champions League? Which guys is no different than UEFA Champions League? But it’s on this side of the country. They are the world. That’s millions of dollars for them. So now Messi plays in that competition while being in the last place. Right now they’ll make the playoffs. It could be the best turn around in sports history we’ve ever seen because of the magnitude of how quickly they did it. It’s unheard.
Jim Murray: Taylor, how do you think the TV contract is working? Is it limit his reach? I mean, we’re talking about it here, but, you know for it is tough for some people to try to find these matches that he’s in.
Taylor Twellman: Jimmy it’s a great question, my man. It’s a great question. Zlatan, who was one of the best players this world ever saw, scored an unbelievable goal for the L.A. galaxy on his debut. About 40 million people saw it. Apple TV has no blackouts and no restrictions. You can see their games on 107 countries in 24 hours. Messi’s goal hit 3.4 billion views. And the reason why I say that is all of us that are on this call right now and having this conversation, we’re linear TV people. We want to see it there. Everyone in Mexico, Germany, England, a hundred in seven countries can watch Messi in a pink number, ten jersey for Inter Miami. They have almost tripled the subscribers for Apple TV since he’s come. They’re going to find it. And I just think all of us that are used to certain ways of watching it, I think Apple TV is trying to get into sports, trying to open up the eyes and saying, hold on a minute, we’re going to do things globally. That’s where it’s been so difficult to grasp, is 107 countries can watch the game that I did last night when for the last 14 years of my life at ESPN, it was in America and it was in Canada. That was it. Jimmy Murray That’s where it’s different, man. That that’s where the whole thing I that’s harder to grasp for me because I don’t it’s kind of above my pay grade.
Jim Murray: The subscriptions tripled worldwide. Are now here in the States.
Taylor Twellman: No, it’s worldwide. So they George Moss announced that it is almost two and a half times doubled since Messi’s debut against Cruz as so what the numbers are that’s Apple. You got to ask my bosses. I don’t know that. All I know is this statement was two and a half times more viewed his debut for Inter Miami and that’s worldwide.
Mazz: But look, your family has a history in sports and a history of soccer. Do I remember right that. Did your father play with Pele?
Taylor Twellman: Yeah. My father was in the old NASL. I was born in Minnesota when he was playing with the kicks. Yep. So he played during the Pele era.
Mazz: Okay. I don’t care where you were born. Yes. So my my question is, I don’t. I don’t want to know what you think it as he does your father think Messi was the greatest is the greatest player ever?
Taylor Twellman: Yes. Yes. Pele made his debut in Randall’s Island in New York, Tony. Nobody saw pictures of it until five years later, five years later. Now, my dad will sit here and say Pele would have given Messi a run for his money. And yet the World Cup this year finally got my 68 year old father to say. I think he’s got them. They always said he can’t win the big one. Can he win the big one? That’s what Pele did. But Pele’s Brazilian teams had for the top 20 greatest players ever with him. Argentina wasn’t a bad team. I’m not saying that, but they didn’t have that magnitude of player. Messi’s convinced my father that all of a sudden he’s the greatest ever, and some of that is the ability to see every move social media wise and everything else that Messi did when you didn’t know what Pele was doing until weeks later, months later, Tony, That’s some of that, but it’s hard to describe what he’s done. Tony, I texted you this. I think the listeners would appreciate this. There’s four athletes in my lifetime that they see the line of expectation and they’ve all delivered it. Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lionel Messi. Now, everyone right now is going to say, what about Tom Brady? Tom Brady had no line of expectation when he first started. Even after one, two or three Super Bowls. The four athletes I mentioned you. They were already deemed the greatest of all time by the time they were 21. And they’ve all delivered better than that. Messi has no business at 36, at 30 6ad in soccer. You should be done. Should be over. He’s thriving. Just that’s the hard thing to grasp.
New England Revolution head coach Bruce Arena looks on before a game against the Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium. (Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports)
Jim Murray: Just real quick, Taylor, and then we’ll let you go. It’s been a few weeks since the Revs placed Bruce Arena on the administrative leave. They’ve released no information since then. You have any updates on what’s going on there?
Taylor Twellman: I would be shocked if you don’t hear something in the next 48 to 72 hours. But New England, their game against Nashville has been postponed because Nashville is now playing in the league’s Cup final. So honestly, Murray, I think it may be a little bit longer. I don’t have anything. I’m as in the dark as you guys are on that.
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
Kristaps Porzingis, Celtics provide updates on his injury
Dec 27, 2021; Portland, Oregon, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis (6) warms up prior to a game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center. (Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports)
The injury should not be considered a season-derailing one for the 27-year-old Porzingis, but it’s still fair to assume that the Celtics absolutely begged — if not demanded — that Porzingis not participate in this tournament at less than 100 percent and open the door to worsening his status ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season. (Their experience with Danilo Gallinari last year only solidified their thinking or insistence on this front, you’d imagine.)
The Celtics are also leaning on Porzingis as a major piece of their puzzle in 2023-24, as he’s by all means the new No. 3 behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown following the three-way trade between the C’s, Wizards, and Grizzlies.
The Celtics also made a $60 million investment in Porzingis before even seeing him take the court in a Celtic jersey.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 28: Kristaps Porzingis #6 of the Washington Wizards celebrates against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Capital One Arena on November 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Porzingis is coming to Boston on the heels of a career-year in Washington, with a career-high in both points per game (23.2 points per game) and field goal percentage (49.8 percent). Porzingis also shot 38.5 percent from beyond the arc this past season, which was his second-best single season average (trailing only a 39.5 percent mark with the Knicks in 2017-18), and averaged 8.4 rebounds per game (his fourth-best single-season average and his fourth season of at least eight boards per game). His 2.7 assists per game were his second-best single-season average, too.
The Latvian big man was also one of just three players to average at least 20 points, eight rebounds, and one block during the 2022-23 season, joining the Lakers’ Anthony Davis and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid on that list.
But the injury that’ll keep ‘KP’ out of the 2023 FIBA World Cup will certainly be worth watching once the Celtics report for the upcoming season, as Porzingis has battled injuries throughout his NBA career and played at least 70 games just once in his eight-year NBA career.
