Messi and Inter Miami are on the brink of the MLS Supporters' Shield. But they want more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — There are any number of ways for Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to wrap up the Supporters’ Shield and claim the No. 1 overall seed for the MLS Cup playoffs that start later this month.

Here's the easiest path: Win on Wednesday.

The preseason Major League Soccer title favorites — with a lineup featuring Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets — are on the brink of another trophy. They can clinch the Supporters’ Shield, given to the team with the top MLS regular-season record, on Wednesday night with a win at Columbus.

“It’s a great opportunity for us," Inter Miami midfielder Matias Rojas said. “We're taking it step by step. This team has built itself one step at a time. So, on Wednesday, we will go to win and achieve that goal.”

It would take total collapse over their final three matches for Inter Miami to not go into the playoffs with the No. 1 overall seed, and the Supporters’ Shield would become the second trophy in club history — following the Leagues Cup title that was won in 2023, not long after Messi arrived and instantly turned the club into a global phenomenon.

A Miami team — the long-defunct Fusion — has won the Supporters’ Shield before. The Fusion won it in 2001, which became the club's final season because of attendance and revenue problems. Inter Miami has never been close to the top of the MLS table before; it was 19th out of 26 teams in 2020, 20th out of 27 teams in 2021, 12th out of 28 teams in 2022 and 27th out of 29 clubs last season.

This year was expected to be totally different and has delivered. The club opened 3-2-1 in its first six MLS matches and has gone 16-2-7 since. It is already, by far, the best record in club history and a 3-0-0 finish would give Inter Miami the MLS mark for most points in a regular season.

They could finish with 74, one more than New England's 73 in 2021.

“When a team like Inter has 65 points and has lost only four matches all season and you compare it with teams from previous seasons, we should recognize all the good things we have accomplished this season," Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said.

And it's not all Messi.

He's missed 15 of Inter Miami's MLS matches this season, either because of commitments to Argentina's national team or the two-month absence that he needed to recover from a badly injured ankle — an injury that happened during his nation's run to the Copa America title in July.

Inter Miami, in MLS play this season, is 9-1-6 with Messi in the lineup. That's probably not a surprise; his teams have been hard to beat for the better part of the last 20 years. This part is the surprise: Inter Miami is 10-3-2 when Messi hasn't played in league matches.

With Messi, the team averages 2.06 standings points per match out of a possible three, and the team averages 2.13 standings points without him. It makes no sense for the record to be better without the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and consensus greatest player ever in the lineup, but somehow, those are the numbers.

That proves the Inter Miami lineup isn't just Messi and a bunch of other guys, goalkeeper Drake Callender said.

“That's just, I think, the versatility of our team," Callender said. "We gained depth throughout the season because a lot of these guys didn’t have many minutes to start the year. But they get more experience now, we have more options, and we have more versatility in how we want to play. So, I think we’re in a pretty good spot going forward.”

If the clinch — which comes with home-field advantage throughout the entirety of the MLS Cup playoffs, all the way to the final — doesn't come on Wednesday, Inter Miami's final two regular-season matches are at Toronto on Saturday and then at home against New England on Oct. 19. Inter Miami's playoff run will start at home on the final weekend of October.

The primary focus is the playoff title, the MLS Cup. But the No. 1 seed also matters, Alba said.

“We hope to win against a great team like Columbus, and we will go in with a winning mentality,” Alba said. "Winning the Supporters’ Shield would be a nice achievement in the club’s history, but in the end, what we want to win is MLS Cup.”

AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer

Inter Miami head coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino sits on the bench at the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi reacts after falling in a clash with defenders, during the second half of an MLS soccer match against Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson, right, takes a selfie for a fan in the stands, as he stands on the sideline before the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

French professional soccer player Paul Pogba stands in a VIP suite at the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Luis Suarez (9) looks for an opening during the second half of an MLS soccer match against Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami midfielder Diego Gomez (20) is fouled by Charlotte FC defender Adilson Malanda (29), initially drawing a red card but revised to a yellow card on review, during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami head coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino sits on the bench at the start of an MLS soccer match against Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi, second right, celebrates with teammates after scoring against Charlotte FC during the second half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) takes a spill as he collides with Charlotte FC defender Adilson Malanda (29) during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi waves as he arrives for an MLS soccer match against Charlotte FC, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) takes a shot, pursued by Charlotte FC midfielder Andrew Privett (34) during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10), right, vies with Charlotte FC defender Adilson Malanda (29) during the first half of an MLS soccer match, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The finger wag. The enormous smile. The unmistakable voice. Dikembe Mutombo played defense at a level and with a flair that few others in basketball history ever possessed, all among the many reasons why he's immortalized in the Hall of Fame.

On the court, he stopped people.

Off the court, he helped people.

In simplest terms, that is the legacy of Mutombo, the 7-foot-2 mountain of a center who died Monday, about two years after his family revealed that he was dealing with brain cancer. The tributes started when the news broke and never stopped. Current and former players. Team and league executives. Even world leaders; Barack Obama, who hosted Mutombo at the White House more than once, weighed in as did Felix Tshisekedi, the president of Congo, Mutombo's homeland.

They all said the same thing in different ways. Mutombo touched lives, one way or another.

“Dikembe Mutombo was an incredible basketball player — one of the best shot blockers and defensive players of all time," Obama wrote on social media Monday. “But he also inspired a generation of young people across Africa, and his work as the NBA’s first global ambassador changed the way athletes think about their impact off the court.”

When Mutombo wanted something done, it got done. He built a hospital in the Congo and that facility — named for his mother — has now treated about 200,000 people. He worked tirelessly on behalf of the Special Olympics, on behalf of UNICEF, on behalf of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He traveled the world, he encouraged NBA leaders to visit Africa, he fought for change. He was the first, and still is the only, person to win the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award twice.

“His legacy of things that he did off of the court are going to long outlive the things he did on the court," one of his former coaches, fellow Hall of Famer Dan Issel, said Monday.

Issel coached Mutombo in Denver, where they were part of the first 8-seed-beats-1-seed upset in NBA playoff history, the one where the Nuggets ousted Seattle in 1994 in a best-of-5 series and Mutombo ended up on the floor when it was over, flat on his back, holding the ball over his head with absolute joy on his face.

That was an iconic moment. But Mutombo's iconic move was the finger wag — which he broke out after blocking a shot, his index finger going back and forth as if to say “no, no, no” to shooters who he had just rejected. It is legendary. It didn't start that way.

“He got called for a technical, I think, the first time he did it," Issel said. "And so the NBA made a rule that they liked it so much, they just didn’t want him doing it in somebody’s face. So, after that, they said, ‘Hey, if you turn to the crowd and do the finger waggle, you’ll be OK. Just don’t do it in the player’s face that you just blocked.’”

Mutombo spent 18 seasons in the NBA, playing for Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and the then-New Jersey Nets. The 7-foot-2 center out of Georgetown was an eight-time All-Star, four-time defensive player of the year three-time All-NBA selection and went into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015 after averaging 9.8 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for his career.

His speech in Springfield, Massachusetts on the night of his induction lasted about 9 minutes. And probably 8 1/2 of those minutes were him talking about everyone else, instead of talking about his own accomplishments. He had John Thompson, his Georgetown coach, and then-former NBA Commissioner David Stern on the stage with him as his Hall of Fame presenters. From Thompson, he learned basketball and how to look at the world. From Stern, he got the opportunity to use the NBA platform to help change the world. He could not have thanked either of them enough.

“The spirit of Dikembe Mutombo is never going to be forgotten," said Philadelphia guard Kyle Lowry, who was a Mutombo teammate in the center's final NBA season — with Houston in 2008-09. “I think everyone that’s ever been around, ever been a part of, whoever met him, knows how great of a man he was. He’s got a great family, great children. It’s a big loss for our league, our world.”

There will be no more finger wags. That voice — it was compared to the Cookie Monster, and Mutombo always saw the humor in that — has been silenced. Mutombo is gone. The legacy is not. It never will be.

And if someone had to sum up Mutombo's remarkable life in one sentence, there might be no better choice than the one he himself used to wrap up his Hall of Fame speech.

“I may not have won the championship,” he said that night, “but I'm a champion to so many people.”

AP Sports Writers Pat Graham and Dan Gelston contributed.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

FILE - Retired Denver Nuggets center Dikembe Mutombo waves to the crowd as his jersey number was retired by the team during halftime of the Nuggets' NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - The Atlanta Hawks' Dikembe Mutombo, left, drives to the hoop against the Chicago Bulls' Dennis Rodman during the second quarter of their playoff game Thursday, May 8, 1997, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Michael S. Green, File)