Houston Dynamo WINS U.S. Open Cup OVER MESSI-LESS Inter Miami I CBS Sports

This just in, the Houston Dynamo for the second time in franchise history win the U.S. Open Cup. 2-1 winners over Inter Miami who played without Lionel Messi. Miami scored late in this one, an extra time as a matter of fact. But Houston's two goals too much to overcome and the Dynamo get it done 2-1. Let us bring in CBS soccer analyst Jimmy Conrad. Look at that, Jimmy's on the set with us. What's up? Great to be here with you, Jim. All right, Lionel Messi, a little bit of a buzz kill, doesn't play in this game. But Miami played tough throughout. They scored an extra time to make it a 2-1 game. What was your biggest takeaways from this game? Well, my biggest takeaway was that Lionel Messi was probably Houston Dynamo's best player, right, Jim? Because he didn't suit up. When they get announced with the lineups, you get that about 45 minutes to an hour before. And they knew right away that not only was he not going to start, he also wasn't in the team completely. And I feel like that allowed Houston to relax and go out and play, knowing that they were probably the better team on paper. They were excellent in the first half, the Houston Dynamo. 18 shots to Miami's one. Second half, Miami made some adjustments, made some subs, and they were a lot more direct. And I thought had more of a grip of the game, which led to them getting that goal to make it closer than maybe it was. But Houston Dynamo, I thought, were the deserved winners. Credit to Ben Olsen, their GM, Pat Onstead. They put a lot of time into revitalizing this club who had been down in the dumps for many years. So this is incredible for them in particular. I don't want to take anything away from Houston. But Inter-Miami missed a big opportunity to build off that Lionel Messi momentum. Yeah, and as you said in the break, shout-out to James Harden. He finally gets a ring. He finally gets a title. He finally gets a ring. I want to touch on two things with you with regards to Inter-Miami, both with and without Lionel Messi. We've seen games where he's played, and they've been behind late, and they find a way. Somehow, someway, they scored a goal in the semifinal game in the 89th minute. When you have a superstar on the pitch, somehow, someway, you have the belief that something special is going to happen. When you don't have him, how deflating is that? It's pretty deflating because I felt that if Messi had been available and he maybe could have come off the bench, the game was wide open, the 60th, 65th minute, perfect time for Lionel Messi to come in. Not at 75% even. Just his mere presence opens up the game for other players, whether he can meet the direct run and beat people on the dribble or not. What I find interesting is that when Lionel Messi, who's not just a superstar, he's like the superstar of superstars, when he's on the field, when he has the ball, anything is possible. And I thought that Miami lacked that a little bit. I do think there is a ripple effect to his mere presence, not only with Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, his former Barcelona teammates who are also on Inter Miami, they do have an injection of that professionalism and world-class ability as well. But I think the demands on his teammates to play even better, not just in games, but in training, has elevated the whole process. And I think it's shown some of these younger players, you can play better than maybe you were before, and this motivation from him in particular has been outstanding, and I think that's going to have a ripple effect for this club moving forward. Great point. And that's where I go, really. Kind of the impact he's had. Look, we all know they were the worst team in the league when he jumped on board. They played in two cup finals. They won one. The impact has been immeasurable. But how about the benefits of having a superstar player like this on the city, on the organization, and on young players moving forward? I don't know if there's a price or a word to put on it, because I think that we had David Beckham come into the league in 2006-2007. That kind of showed, hey, we could be a water cooler topic. And when I say we, I'm talking about Major League Soccer in particular, and as a former player in the league for 12 years, I use we a lot when I'm speaking about the league. But it was a big moment, and I remember thinking, wow, this is shifting the conversation about what MLS can be and where it can go. And I think Messi has now, with steroids, has taken this to the next level, and I think it has inspired Miami. They're now in the process of building their own stadium. His contract runs out before the stadium is officially going to be unveiled, but I wonder if he'll extend it for one year to help them launch that, because I think it'll be really important. But I also think it's making Miami a destination. You're hearing other world-class players. Antoine Griezmann in particular plays at Atletico Madrid, played with him in Barcelona, saying he wants to come play in MLS, and why wouldn't he come to Miami? Why wouldn't anybody go to Miami? It's a great place to play and to potentially raise a family or wherever you are. And so I think that Miami will be a very popular destination for foreign players, hopefully to come over a little bit younger than they have in the past. Yeah, not only to draw players, but as you mentioned before, to raise the level of play of these young players that maybe didn't think they had it in them, but when they're around him day in, day out at practice, they know they have it. I'm a little jealous, Jim. I wish I could hang out with Leo Messi on the daily. No doubt about it. Again, it's the Houston Dynamo that win the U.S. Open Cup Final 2-1 over Inter-Miami, and that's Jimmy Conrad, and this is HQ. 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