Author: Geng Zhige
Messi incident, the Americans are actually nervous......
In the past few days, the public opinion turmoil caused by the well-known Argentine football star Messi in Hong Kong is still fermenting. Previously, when Messi and his current Miami International team came to Hong Kong to play a friendly match, they did not play as the organizers and the supporting SAR government had hoped, nor did they appease the disappointed fans after the game. This practice has caused heated public opinion in Hong Kong and even in China as a whole, as well as criticism of Messi.
Judging from the latest report on this matter in the Financial Times, Messi's turmoil in Hong Kong has also made some Americans, especially those who are concerned about the development of American football, feel nervous. Because they also have high hopes for Messi, who came to play in the United States last July, hoping that he can bring profound changes to tepid American football. But the "PR nightmare" that Messi and the Miami International team that brought him in Hong Kong are now a reminder to these Americans that they can't bet that hope on Messi alone.
The picture is from the Financial Times
After all, Inter Miami relied too much on Messi's personal influence for marketing, counting on him to become the club's golden signature in his first international tour, and when he went wrong in Hong Kong, the entire club's brand reputation was put into it.
A person working to introduce European football to the United States also told the Financial Times that big trouble will arise as soon as Messi is injured, a situation that has already played out in Major League Soccer.
On the other hand, the Financial Times article argued that "every link" had gone wrong with the Hong Kong trip, and pointed more responsibility on Inter Miami and its co-owner, former England star David Beckham, arguing that Beckham's experience should not have allowed things to turn out like this.
As for Messi, the newspaper believes that he is 36 years old and has 1,000 games to play, saying that he is "not a machine" and must conserve his strength, and the club is also afraid that he will really be injured and affect the league. But this possibility also reflects a major reason for Messi's controversy in Hong Kong.
Because from this point of view, neither Messi nor Miami International may not think that the Hong Kong game is important, so important that Messi needs to play in person, so even if they signed a contract with the organizers, they still fooled the past with "injuries". But they never thought that the reason why so many Hong Kong fans want to go to see a team that is ranked lower in the American football league is entirely because of Messi, because Messi will play, even if he really can't play, as long as he can go around the field and wave to the fans after the game, many people can be satisfied. But Messi and Inter Miami did things too well, including the kind of contrast that was later shown in Japan.
As for Messi's personal level, in fact, in July last year, the American "New Yorker" magazine wrote an interesting article after Messi started playing in the United States. Judging from the description of the article, the reason why Messi chose to play in the United States seems to be because the level of the United States is low, and he will not be booed by the fans because he wants to paddle like when he plays in Europe, and even if he rows, he may still be the best here.
However, when he faced so many fans who loved him in Hong Kong and spent money to see him, he didn't even seem to paddle, but just lay down.