Messi, who is approaching his 38th birthday, remains a supernatural figure who continues to delight. But he also remains a mystery.

Messi is in his third season with the Herons and second entire MLS campaign. In 2024, he played just 19 games, scoring 20 goals and 16 assists, but injury and international duty kept him out for a significant amount of time. Still, he became the fastest player to reach 25 goal contributions in a single season last year.

While a 13-game slate opened up the season on Saturday night, the league also kicked off its new Sunday Night Soccer series, with two matches as the Vancouver Whitecaps trounced the Portland Timbers 4–1 and San Diego FC beat the MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy 2–0 in their debut match.

The MLS season has arrived! Here are early predictions for who may win the MLS Cup ahead of the first kickoff.

The Galaxy won MLS Cup a season ago, but they'll certainly be tested this year as they look to repeat as champions. LA has lost plenty of key pieces, most notably Dejan Joveljic and Jalen Neal. The club has has retooled though with several promising additions, including former Columbus Crew striker Christian Ramirez.

Seattle acquired the MLS and U.S. men's national team veteran in a trade with FC Dallas. Signed by Dallas as a homegrown player in 2016, he played played in 163 regular-season MLS games with the team, scoring 53 goals with 34 assists. The 24-year-old was on the squad that played for the United States at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.