Even for a tournament that produced a 10-0 scoreline, Paris Saint-Germain’sdominance over Inter Miamito reach the quarter-finals of the 2025 Club World Cup was overwhelming. In an especially one-sided first half, the Major League Soccer side failed to muster a single shot on target. Lionel Messi had just 14 touches against his former side who scored more goals (four) than Inter Miami completed passes in the attacking third (three).
Nobody expected anything different. This is a PSG outfit that scored five past Inter Milan in the Champions League final only a few weeks ago. They also opened their Club World Cup campaign with a 4-0 thumping of Atletico Madrid that further highlighted the strength of Luis Enrique’s team.Inter Miamiwere the sixth side to have lost to PSG by four goals or more this season. They are not unique.
And yet the sheer uncompetitiveness of Sunday’s match in Atlanta made it impossible not to draw judgements on the direction ofMLSand its teams on the global stage. At least Inter Miami made it as far as a last 16 meeting with the European champions. Los Angeles FC and the Seattle Sounders both exited in the group stage, failing to register a single win between them. Is this the image MLS wanted to convey to the watching world?
It could be argued MLS’s three Club World Cup entrants acquitted themselves well at the tournament. Seattle only lost 2-0 to PSG and 3-1 to Atletico Madrid. They also could have taken something against Botafogo, rallying late against the South American champions. LAFC weren’t blown out of the water by Chelsea, only losing 2-0, and took a point off Flamengo.
Inter Miami pulled off the biggest result ever recorded by an MLS team against a European opponent when they beat Porto. Messi and co were also only a few minutes away from beating Palmeiras and finishing top of their group, a result which would have given them a much more favorable round of 16 tie against Botafogo. They might have gone further.
As it was Inter Miami ran into PSG, who brutally exposed why MLS still can’t be considered one of the best leagues in the world. For every Messi and Luis Suarez on an MLS roster, there is a Tomas Aviles and Maxi Falcon. While PSG are the complete team, Inter Miami are very much not because MLS’s roster rules and salary cap is designed to stop them being one.
MLS doesn’t want a PSG, and perhaps with good reason. The Ligue 1 title has been won by the Parisians in 11 of the last 13 seasons. MLS Cup, on the other hand, hasn’t been retained since David Beckham and the LA Galaxy went back-to-back over a decade ago. At a time when elite-level soccer is becoming increasingly predictable, MLS’s parity is more valuable than ever. It’s something worth protecting.
This, however, is at odds with the league’s stated aim to one day become one of the best in the world and the expanded Club World Cup has made this obvious. The best teams in the world are the most complete teams, so could the sort of humiliation Inter Miami suffered against PSG force MLS into finally loosening the purse strings?
Many believed this would happen after Messi’s arrival in the league two years ago. Instead, MLS only tweaked its roster rules to blur the lines between Designated Players and under-22 initiative signings, double the number of contract buyouts permitted per season and increase the the general allocation money (GAM) teams receive when players are transferred out of the league. Hardly transformational stuff.
The introduction of a new ‘cash for players’ trade mechanism for the 2025 season was a step in the right direction and was quickly utilised by teams now able to bid for the best players already in MLS, but it did nothing to lift spending limits. What was the point of signing the best player of all time to grow the league if the product on the field is limiting that growth? MLS hasn’t come up with a good answer to that question.
There is more than one way to build a world class league and Saudi Arabia is certainly taking a different tact. Al-Hilal, for example, have more than held their own at the Club World Cup despite playing in a domestic league ranked 17 places below MLS by Opta. While the Saudi Pro League has a foreign player allowance that resembles MLS’s DP rule, there are no salary restrictions which makes building a fuller squad easier.
Al-Hilal don’t have an Aviles or Falcon. Instead they have Joao Cancelo and Kalidou Koulibaly. And Yassine Bounou and Renan Lodi. And Ruben Neves in front of the back four for good measure. This strength across the field has made Al-Hilal difficult opponents at the Club World Cup, as Real Madrid will attest. Saudi teams aren’t playing with one hand tied behind their back.
Of course, MLS doesn’t have the credit card of a sovereign wealth fund in its pocket, but several club owners are desperate to spend more. Jorge Mas has reportedly led lobbying for a relaxed salary cap. Sergio Busquets says MLS’s roster rules is stunting the league’s growth. Federico Redondo believes that for MLS to move forward “they’re going to have to loosen things up a bit.”
MLS’s involvement in the Club World Cup has been a great source of pride for the league. Even on a day on which the US men’s national team played at the Gold Cup and two Eastern Conference heavyweights met, MLS’s official X account posted eight times about Inter Miami’s clash with PSG. They wanted people to know.
What do people really know about MLS after the 2025 Club World Cup, though? That the league is still a long way off being one of the best in the world? That the only team to make any real impact was the one that could call on the greatest player of all time to do it all on his own? It’ll take a lot more money to change any of this.