Messi’s first goal since burying his father came in the 26th minute against Philadelphia Union, and he marked it by pointing two fingers to the sky in tribute to Jorge. Less than two weeks removed from his father’s death, and after two straight matches without finding the net, Messi finally scored one. The replay of him searching the sky is already the only clip anyone wants to talk about today.
It should not be the only clip.
Later in that same match, which finished 2-2 per the Inquirer, Messi made contact with Cavan Sullivan’s head. Multiple outlets, including Yahoo Sports, describe it as a slap or a clip around the ear, the kind of thing that gets a shove and a yellow card on a normal night. The referee didn’t card it live. Sullivan is 16.
Sixteen, and already the youngest player to debut in MLS history, a Philadelphia Union academy product standing face to face with a man who has now scored against his club in every one of their six career meetings. One of the two people in that moment has a Ballon d’Or case that needs its own wing at Canton. The other hasn’t graduated high school yet.
ESPN FC’s own caption for the goal says it plainly:
https://x.com/ESPNFC/status/2090241365602930860
That’s the version of Messi everyone’s sharing today. I’ve watched the other clip back more times than I’d like to admit, and there’s no version of it where a teenager’s head ends up near Messi’s hand by accident.
None of this is the brawl everyone else is writing about. That happened separately, deep into stoppage time, when Sullivan waded into a scrum to defend his older brother Quinn against Ian Fray and caught a punch from Yannick Bright for his trouble — both players were sent off for that one. Messi wasn’t part of it, and he didn’t see red for the head contact either. What he’s facing instead is a retrospective review from the MLS Disciplinary Committee, the body that rules on the stuff referees miss live.
A fine is the expected outcome. A suspension is also on the table, which would cost Messi Inter Miami’s match on August 22nd — the same week he’s still grieving his father, with the team sitting second in the East and chasing Nashville through the rest of this MLS season.
That timing is exactly why this ruling outlasts one Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The Disciplinary Committee isn’t just deciding what Messi owes Cavan Sullivan. It’s deciding what grief is worth in a box score, and whatever number they land on gets cited the next time any superstar has a rough month. Go easy on him because he’s mourning, and mourning becomes a discount code. Fine him like anyone else, and the league is saying the sky-point and the clip to the head live on two different ledgers that don’t touch.
I don’t think they should touch. Grief explains a bad week. It doesn’t retroactively make contact with a teenager’s head okay, and if MLS wants to prove it understands the difference, more MLS coverage of this Disciplinary Committee cycle than a quiet fine buried on a Thursday would be a start.
Grief earns sympathy. It doesn’t buy a pass.
