When New York City FC supporters arrive at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, they’ll march down River Avenue like they always do and cheer for the club, like they always do. Anticipating anything extra because Lionel Messi is in town?
Fuhgeddaboudit!
When it comes to the annual visit by Messi and Inter Miami to New York City, the club’s fans don’t view the occasion as “anything special,” Third Rail supporters group president Andrew Tucker told The Post.
NYCFC will host Lionel Messi on Sunday. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Nevertheless, the yearly match against the South Florida club is often one of the best attended of the season and draws massive crowds, with many of those in attendance hoping to get a glimpse of the Argentine, which doesn’t necessarily sit well with the home supporters.
“This is something that all MLS fan bases have had to deal with and it has been quite frustrating,” Tucker said. “There are people who live in New York City and like soccer, but only bother to fill the stadium when Messi is in town. We directed our ‘Don’t Be Plastic, Support Your Local Club’ Barbie-themed tifo in 2024 at those people. The message was well received around the league, and I think most supporters in MLS will be happy once the Messi circus is over.”
Tucker is not alone in his frustrations, as supporters across the league have dealt with similar instances since Messi arrived in the United States and the buzz that comes with a visit from the soccer legend.
The influx of Messi fans or Inter Miami fans on the road has often come with increased ticket prices, the feeling of it being a Miami home game, and some clubs have opted to move the match to larger venues, taking away the home-field advantage.
For their part, New York City FC fans have done a better job than some at making the visits less of a coronation for Messi and a bit more hostile.
The best example happened two years ago when NYCFC fans jeered and flipped off the Inter Miami team bus after it went down River Ave. in a now-viral video.
“I don’t think people are Inter Miami fans necessarily that are coming to the game. There’s people who want to see the greatest player of all time in person,” NYCFC CEO Brad Sims told The Post, noting that a majority of them are from New York. “We have an opportunity to expose them to our brand. We’re their home team.”
Sims was also encouraged by the fact that season ticket holders have requested more add-on tickets for Sunday’s match than Inter Miami’s trips to Yankee Stadium in 2024 and Citi Field in 2025. In an effort to encourage more local fan turnout, the club made the tickets “more affordable,” with Sims noting a limited number of tickets are still available for the game.
NYCFC fans Getty Images
Sunday’s game marks the first time that NYCFC will see Inter Miami since they ended New York City FC’s run in the playoffs in November.
It’s a subject that the players are keenly aware of going into the showdown, Kevin O’Toole explained.
“It’s also about keeping the emotions level and even keeled,” O’Toole said. “kind of going about our business and, obviously, taking the three points at home. That’s in the back of our minds, the playoff loss, so everyone’s kind of a little extra motivated to avenge the loss from last year.”
NYCFC has lost its last two meetings against Inter Miami, which saw New York City FC go into the half playing an even game only to see Miami overtake them in the second half.
The losses have been learning lessons for head coach Pascal Jansen’s squad about what happens when you give an opponent an opening.
“If you switch off just for a second against this type of quality, it can hurt you really, really bad,” Jansen said. “And if you go back to the goal that Miami scored in game two at Citi Field, you can see there’s a minor error in midfield. They take over and they punish us severely, and that’s when they went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
“So those are the things that we have to realize. We can’t make those kind of errors in certain areas of the pitch because they have the quality to finish those moments off.”