Major League Soccer (MLS) handed Inter Miami stars Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba one-game suspensions Friday after they skipped the league\u2019s All-Star Game earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
The decision, although not surprising due to league policies, sent shockwaves throughout the soccer fan base and punditry. Messi himself was reportedly torn up about it, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cMessi is extremely upset,\u201d Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas told the press on Friday<\/a>. \u201cWill it have an impact on his perception on the league and its rules? No doubt\u2026 I\u2019m hopeful it doesn\u2019t have an impact long term.\u201d<\/p>\n Every player that signs an MLS contract agrees to participate in the All-Star Game, if selected, under penalty of a one-game suspension if they skip for non-injury-related reasons. This is just like the NHL, which has suspended Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin three separate times for the same infraction (2016<\/a>, 2019<\/a>, 2020<\/a>).<\/p>\n The only noticeable difference between then and now is the sizable uproar and debate Messi\u2019s single suspension has caused. While there was some complaining from fans when the NHL punished Ovechkin for choosing to rest, the MLS is being lambasted for its matching policy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a joke,\u201d ESPN FC\u2019s Steve Nichol said Friday. \u201cTo suspend a guy who\u2019s done so much for your league\u2026 If I\u2019m Messi and anybody at Inter Miami, I\u2019m not lifting a finger to help MLS again. Forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n Messi\u2019s infraction is a rare occurrence in the MLS. The last notable suspension for skipping the All-Star Game while healthy was handed out to LA Galaxy forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2018<\/a> who also cited rest for a playoff run as the reason for his absence.<\/p>\n Punishing players for prioritizing their bodies over a contractual money-making match will likely prompt the league to rethink their de facto suspension. MLS commissioner Don Garber seems like he\u2019s read the writing on the wall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to take a hard look at the policy moving forward,\u201d he said in a statement Friday<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m committed to working with our players to determine how the rules should evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n The NHL had a much different tune when Ovechkin skipped back-to-back All-Star Games in 2019 and 2020. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN the league had concerns that Ovechkin\u2019s decision would set a trend.<\/p>\n \u201cI was the first to defend Alex Ovechkin\u2019s decision last year to take a year off, because he\u2019s been fabulous in terms of helping the league in promoting the sport, including the All-Star event every year,\u201d Daly explained. \u201cLast year, I was much more willing to look the other way on something like this. But two years in a row is probably something we do need to address with the players\u2019 association, so it doesn\u2019t become a trend.\u201d<\/p>\n The NHL instituted the punishment in 2009 and previous high-profile suspensions for skipping the All-Star Game have included\u00a0Jonathan Quick,\u00a0Jonathan Toews,\u00a0Sidney Crosby,\u00a0Nicklas Lidstrom\u00a0and\u00a0Pavel Datsyuk. However, since Ovechkin\u2019s 2020 discipline, no other player has skipped the All-Star Game and thus mooted Daly\u2019s concern.<\/p>\n \u201cI do believe that there has to be a little more urgency among the players to make this a priority, because I think it should be a priority,\u201d Daly continued. \u201cIt is, in fact, one of the job responsibilities when it comes to being a professional ice hockey player.\u201d<\/p>\n Players also have responsibilities to help their respective clubs win as well, which is why Ovechkin chose to rest for a playoff run instead of participating in a stake-less midseason contest.\u00a0The absence of stars like Messi or Ovechkin due to suspensions could be the difference between a playoff-clinching win and missing out altogether.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hard decision. I have to listen to my body. I have to get ready for the second half of the year. I have to be healthy and focus on different things,\u201d Ovechkin said of his decision to skip the 2020 NHL All-Star Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n Messi likely wasn\u2019t thinking of Ovechkin\u2019s reasoning when he made his own decision but it\u2019s still quite serendipitous considering the latter idolizes the 2022 World Cup champion<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a god of football,\u201d Ovechkin told Match TV in July, per a translation by Google Translate<\/a>. \u201cWhat he does on the field is simply incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n The two met briefly in the bowels of then-FedEx Field<\/a> when Messi and the Argentinian National Team faced El Salvador in a 2015 friendly. They exchanged signed jerseys and took photos together.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to [be his friend] but I don\u2019t know if he remembers that meeting,\u201d Ovechkin recounted earlier this month.<\/p>\n Messi and Ovechkin come with millions of eyeballs and dollars for their respective leagues. When they don\u2019t play, people don\u2019t watch.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s too late for hockey players and the NHL to eliminate the All-Star Game suspension provision from their recently renewed collective bargaining agreement<\/a>, perhaps the issue will reemerge for the MLS when its agreement is up for renegotiation in 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major League Soccer (MLS) handed Inter Miami stars Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba one-game suspensions Friday after they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-29131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}