Lionel Messi will have to share the spotlight with Quinn Sullivan as the Union host Inter Miami

Messi's first game in Philadelphia for two years comes right after Sullivan earned a lot of praise for his first call-up to the senior U.S. men's national team.

Lionel Messi will play here for just the second time when the Union host Inter Miami on Saturday.Read moreHeather Khalifa / Staff Photographer / Heather Khalifa / Staff Photogra

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published May 23, 2025, 1:53 p.m. ET

Soccer superstar Lionel Messi is in town for the first time in two years, and is expected to play when the first-place Union host Messi’s Inter Miami on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).

But while Messi will bring a lot of people to sold-out Subaru Park who don’t normally attend Union games, he won’t be the only player getting attention.

The Union’s Quinn Sullivan will be in a well-earned spotlight at his first game since earning his first call-up to the senior U.S. men’s national team, for next month’s friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland and the Concacaf Gold Cup afterward.

Having taken one of the Union’s starting attacking midfield spots, the 21-year-old Bridesburg native has seven assists and one goal in 15 games. Six of those assists have come in MLS games, tied for the league lead, and the seventh came on a pretty play Wednesday in a U.S. Open Cup win.

“Calm and composure [were] something that I definitely needed to work on, and I think I’ve added that,” Sullivan said, thanking his coaches and parents (both former players) for their advice. “I’m finding the right moments to cross the ball and get assists, but also being a part of the buildup like you saw in the Riverhounds [Open Cup] game.”

Sullivan is one of seven players on the 27-man U.S. squad with ties to the Union. They represent the arc of the Union’s growth over the years: former youth players Zack Steffen and Brian White, famed alumni Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie, and Sullivan’s former teammates Matt Freese and Jack McGlynn.

“I think it’s a testament to the whole system — to the academy, to the school especially,” Sullivan said, referring to the high school the Union run for their elite prospects. “To have so many players from the system, whether it be for a couple years or whatever, or all the way through the ranks, to make it to that level is amazing. … It’s great to be a part of the legacy of the Union that has produced so much talent.”

Sullivan has played eight times against Miami, but Messi’s last visit wasn’t one of them. He did play in the Union’s 2-1 loss in Florida in March, where they nearly stole a tie late. His assist to Dániel Gazdag helped turn the momentum.

That was the Union’s second loss of the season. They have lost just one more since, and are unbeaten in their last eight.

“We know what the crowd is going to be like, and I’m happy that it’s here at home” this time, Sullivan said, “I’m expecting us to play our same style, and hopefully keep our good streak rolling.”

Miami, meanwhile, is in a woeful run of form. For all the Herons’ star power — not just Messi but Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets — they’ve won just one of their last seven, including losses in both games of their Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

All four big names are age 36 or older, and they’ve looked the part. Miami gave up 20 goals in those seven games, including 10 over the last three. A 3-0 loss at cross-state rival Orlando City last Sunday was the latest ugly outing.

That led to a players-only meeting, and centerback Ian Fray said Friday there’s been more intensity in practice since then.

“Even though we’ve hit a slump and need to improve, it’s in our hands and up to us to fix it,” Miami manager Javier Mascherano said at his team’s practice Friday morning, before flying north. “We’ve lost confidence, and we clearly need to urgently regain that. Because it’s clearly evident not only in the collective performance but in the individual performances.”

Mascherano is a fomer teammate of Messi’s with Argentina’s national team and Spanish club Barcelona, and he didn’t have much coaching experience when he took this job.

When his predecessor, Gerardo “Tata” Martino, resigned, Mascherano was hired, and tasked with pushing a squad that won the Supporters’ Shield last year (and was given a Club World Cup spot as a result), but then got bounced from the playoffs in the first round.

So far, the Herons have gone backward. Their 6-3-4 record (22 points) has them in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, seven points behind the Union (9-3-2, 29 points). Just three games remain before they head to the Club World Cup to face Egypt’s Al Ahly, Portugal’s Porto, and Brazil’s Palmeiras.

Miami won’t have to go far for those games, with the first and last at the Dolphins’ NFL stadium and the second in Atlanta. But while the stars sell tickets, and often enough score goals, they can’t mask the poor defensive record.

Still, the show will go on, and this weekend it will come here for the first time since Messi’s first season. In August 2023, he orchestrated a 5-1 rout of the Union in the Leagues Cup semifinals.

Suárez will visit for the first time, having missed last year’s game (as Messi did) to play at the Copa América. (And for fans with long memories, Suárez was injured when Uruguay played at Lincoln Financial Field in the 2016 Copa América Centenario.)

“Obviously, this catches us at a moment in the season when we need them to be with us,” Mascherano said. “So yes, they will travel.”

It’s tempting to say that if the Union don’t beat Messi this time, they might never. But is it also tempting fate to think Miami might wake up now?

“If the game continues to go out 0-0, they’re going to gain confidence with the players they have on the field and create chances,” Sullivan said, “But if we’re able to get a goal early, hopefully that takes a big hit for them. But we can only control what we can control, and that’s being on the front foot, trying to score goals early, and keep a clean sheet.”