The nominations for the MLS Year-end awards are out and Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets both find themselves in the shortlist. Messi and his teammate, Busquets, have been nominated for both the Newcomer of the Year award and the MVP award. Despite only playing 11 matches, the inclusion of Lionel Messi has irked the MLS supporters. Former USMNT icon shares his takes on the nominations as he is left baffled with MLS’ selection.

Lionel Messi has been instrumental in Inter Miami’s success in the Leagues Cup. But, a major portion of the fans feel that to nominate someone who has just played 4 games is not justified. The USMNT legend and icon shares his opinion on similar lines.

MLS players and fans deserve more

There’s a case to make when it comes to this year’s MLS awards nominations. Although Messi hasn’t been influential in Miami’s MLS run but he has bagged them their first silverware in the Leagues Cup run. The team’s underwhelming performance in Messi’s absence comes across as another thing to be counted. Herculez Gomez, the former LA Galaxy player turned pundit, shares his take on this year’s nominations for the Landon Donovan MVP award.

In an interview with ESPN, the MLS icon perplexed with Messi’s nomination said, “I would assume he would become embarrassed and disgusted by this and his camp would probably pick up the phone, call to MLS and their exes, and say what the hell are you doing? What are you doing?”

Gomez further added to his remarks. He said, “You already have a situation where the rest of the world has some sort of distorted perception of your league and here you are giving Messi a nomination as a league MVP for four games 1 goal, 2 assists in 247 minutes -is that what’s going to build the credibility here? What will I think if I’m Luciano Acosta, Thiago Almada, Denis Bouanga, Hany Mukhtar? Come on your fans deserve more, these players deserve more!”

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In the nomination list released, there’s a lot of close calls. The front-runners in the race, though, remains Luciano Costa of FC Cincinnati, Thiago Almada of Atlanta United and Denis Bouanga of Los Angeles FC. The voting for the awards will conclude on October 23.

The MLS Year-end nominations are here! But Lionel Messi doesn’t fit right

The excitement is building as the 2023 MLS Year-End Award nominations are unveiled. One of the biggest names in soccer, Lionel Messi, has earned nominations for both the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Newcomer of the Year categories. He made an impact with 11 appearances for Inter Miami, including 4 in MLS matches. However, one thing that Herculez Gomez pointed out in the interview was, as he said, “Luciano Acosta has those stats after 30 something games. You’re inflating with a lower amount of games it’s unfortunate.”

The competition is fierce in the MVP race. Reigning MVP Hany Mukhtar, who provided 15 goals and 8 assists for Nashville in 31 MLS appearances, faces tough competition from Luciano Acosta, boasting 16 goals and 10 assists for Cincinnati.

St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki is on a mission to become the second goalkeeper to win the MVP award. Hector Herrera (Houston Dynamo) and Thiago Almada (Atlanta) are also front runners with their impressive stats. As for the Newcomer award, Eduard Lowen (St. Louis) and Giorgos Giakoumakis (Atlanta) are strong contenders as well.

Messi isn’t the only standout player from Inter Miami on the list. His teammate, Sergio Busquets, has also secured nominations in both MVP and Newcomer categories, despite joining the MLS mid-season. Who do you think should win the MVP award? Let us know in the comments below.

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