Mic'd Up: Edu says Suarez deserved harsher MLS punishment, hails Son and Thomas Müller for approach to MLS moves
The clock is ticking down on the MLS season, and the races for both the Supporters' Shield and the playoffs remain wide open.
Five teams – the Philadelphia Union, San Diego FC, FC Cincinnati, Nashville, and Minnesota United FC – are separated by just seven points in the battle for the Shield. In the playoff hunt, 22 clubs are still realistically in contention. In a league filled with stars such as Lionel Messi, Son Heung-Min, and Thomas Müller, former USMNT player Maurice Edu expects the homegrown-led Union to stand out – even if that comes with some bias.
"It's my former club. So, I'm gonna say Philly for Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup," Edu told GOAL. "Philly needs an MLS Cup and the LAFC final in Los Angeles [where the Union lost in 2022], it still leaves a sour taste in Philly fans' mouths."
The Apple TV analyst, who closed out his playing career with the Union and had 46 caps for the USMNT, expects plenty of surprises this postseason.
"I think there's going to be a lot of wrinkles and twists and turns. I feel like, along the way, we're probably going to see a couple of upsets like we saw last year," he said.
Edu discussed Luis Suárez's suspension, Lionel Messi's future and the impact Son and Müller have made since arriving in MLS in the latest edition of Mic’d Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts, and pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
Get the MLS Season Pass today!Stream games nowGetty ImagesON LUIS SUAREZ AND INTER MIAMI
GOAL: MLS handed out suspensions for those involved in the Miami-Seattle Leagues Cup brawl. Assessing everything, including how Suarez instigated the fight, do you think the league got it right when it came to his punishment?
EDU: I would have liked to have seen more… I understand that it happened in a competition that's not an MLS game. It's not a regular season game or playoffs. But just seeing the number [three MLS games and six Leagues Cup matches], and I just thought this was a moment where if you really want to eradicate them, if you really want to like stomp them out of this game, then the punishment should be harsh. Harsh to where someone is petrified to ever try to replicate that, right? To ever try to do anything similar to it.
So yeah, that's kind of where I stand with it. With Suarez, especially, he's an incredible player, and it's just so frustrating that he has these moments of insanity where those just overshadow everything. Like these major incidents, they just overshadow everything that he's built and accomplished in his career, and it becomes a talking point. It steals all the attention from anything positive. It makes Miami into a villain now, right?… He's turning this team now into the villains of this league. And so yeah, it's frustrating from that standpoint because for so long they were like the darlings. Almost everyone wanted to support them because Messi was there.
GOAL: Has that been a recurring theme with Inter Miami this season? Miami vs MLS? Just considering this incident, the All-Star game that Messi and Jordi Alba skipped, and numerous complaints about MLS from Miami? They also skirted the rules by signing Rodrigo De Paul. Is this kind of the theme for them this year?
EDU: For sure. I think Miami, [owner] Jorge Mas, their whole organization, they've been incredibly ambitious with and try to push boundaries as much as possible, right? Like you look at the signings alone, they're really trying to put I would say pressure on others to match them in their ambition and their way of of building their roster and their team… But you know what? If I'm within that locker room or under that emblem, under that badge for Miami, I'm like, "F everyone else. I don't care. You can hate us, but when the first whistle blows, you're going to see who we are. When that last whistle blows, we're going to be the team that walks away with three points." I see both sides of it. So, I get the ambition, and the only thing that I think is just the real stain is like the whole Seattle game incident.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportON MESSI'S FUTURE
GOAL: Messi has yet to sign a contract extension with the club. He's also recently said he isn't sure he will be playing in next year's World Cup. Considering all of this, do you think there's a chance he might retire at the end of the season? Does he return to MLS next year?
EDU: I hope he does. I hope he continues to play, and I hope that he continues to play in MLS. He's been an incredible ambassador for the game everywhere that he's been. The fact that he's the greatest player that we've ever experienced, if we can continue to have him in this league, it's another stroke of, I would say, validation in some ways, that the greatest player we've ever seen play this game wants to continue to build on what he's done in Major League Soccer in Miami. The trickle-down effect, we've all seen it. The amount of spotlight that gets placed on games that obviously he plays in, but more importantly, this league.
If you're a young player and you're dreaming of playing in Europe, you're dreaming of getting more eyes on you, then you know that if you're playing a game against Miami, against Messi, you're damn near in a shop window, right?… But Messi, yeah, I don't think his chapter is done. I hope it's not. I think obviously Miami is desperate to have him back another season to help open up their new stadium, as well. But the impact of having him play another season in MLS, the year of a World Cup that we're hosting, that would just be incredible for all things football in this country
GettyON SON AND LAFC
GOAL: Touching on another MLS super club, LAFC, what are your thoughts on the Son signing, his impact both on and off the pitch? And does his arrival put the club into contention?
EDU: To be honest, LAFC were always going to be a contender. I mean, they've even in the moments where it's like, they're having an off year, they're still like top four in the West, right? Like they're still in that conversation, they're still competing. This is even before Son's arrival and his arrival now, yeah, it's had a incredible impact on and off the pitch. The off-pitch stuff first and foremost, the Korean fan base. LAFC did an incredible job of tapping into that, just leaning into that. And to their credit, Korean fans are incredible. I remember when I was at Rangers, there was a player at Celtic, Ki Sung-yueng, and I had a couple of friends who were at Celtic at the time. And they said the amount of fan mail that this guy used to get daily? Like physical fan mail, like letters that were handwritten and put in the postage, not like DMs or social, no, no, like actual fan mail.
They're like, "The guy's a pop star in his country." That's the kind of effect that Son's brought to LA with LAFC. And the other part about him is just an incredible guy. [He does] the interviews and the media stuff, the press stuff that sometimes stars, superstars shrug away, and they're like, "Eh, I do it once a month or something like that." But he's just leaned into it and really just embraced his role within this team and this league. So, I love that. And then on the pitch, the guy's quality. Like, there's no getting around it. He's a quality player. We saw that in the international game against the U.S. right? He has this way about him that he's always kind of had, where he knows the right moments when he needs to be selfish, but in a crazy way for a superstar, he still has this incredibly unselfish ability about him. He'll play the right pass over taking the shot. He'll find ways to bring his team into the game. His body language and all that. His demeanor doesn't come across as whiny and complaining. It's more like, "OK, how do I get my team motivated?" And those are valuable traits to have from a superstar.
Getty Images SportON MULLER AND THE WHITECAPS
GOAL: Sticking with big signings, let's dive into Thomas Müller. What have you taken from his signing so far? Do you think Vancouver can get back to the early momentum that they've had because of his signing? Or do you think that there are other challenges there?
EDU: I like the signing a lot… Similar to my sentiments about Son, the guy – for all that he's accomplished – he's a humble guy… really personable, and his teammates have welcomed him in. He's done well already in his time there. One of the things I took away from our conversation [in a recent interview] was how – and it shouldn't come as a surprise – but just how he consistently stressed the thing he wanted to do most was get on the pitch. He was just itching to get on the pitch because that's where he wants to leave his biggest mark. Everything that happens off the pitch, OK, whatever, great. But he wants to leave his biggest mark on the pitch, and he's still driven to win trophies.
Now, how does that play into Vancouver? I think it amplifies them for sure. They lost Pedro Vite at midfield [due to a transfer]. So they needed someone to kind of fill that void, and he's a different kind of player than Pedro Vite is… Goalscoring, the know-how in and around the 18-yard box, the experience moments, all the quality. Where I think they will have some challenges is that they lost Ranko Veselinović to an ACL injury, and his partnership with Tristan Blackman in the back line were a big part of why they were so successful. But they brought in a couple of reinforcements… I think this is a team that'll still be in the conversation in the West.