The American professional tournament MLS has just announced the 2023 outstanding squad with 11 honored individuals. Notably, this list does not include Lionel Messi.

Major League Soccer is the top-level professional men’s soccer league in the United States and Canada administered by the United States Soccer Federation.

The tournament is divided into two regions, East and West. The top 7 teams in each group have the right to directly enter the Play-offs round to determine the championship team. The 8th and 9th ranked teams of each group meet in a qualifying match to determine the remaining 2 spots.This year’s American professional tournament MLS recorded many record numbers in advertising as well as followers. All with the participation of Lionel Messi, the current No. 1 player in MLS.

However, in the list of 2023 representative squad just announced by MLS, fans were extremely surprised to see the absence of Lionel Messi.

Specifically, 11 individuals were honored as recognition for their impressive performances in the past season. The list includes:

– Goalkeeper: Roman Burki (St. Louis City)

– 3 defenders: Matt Miazga (Cincinnati), Tim Parker (St. Louis City), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville)

– 4 midfielders: Hector Herrera (Houston Dynamo), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville), Thiago Almada (Atlanta United), Luciano Acosta (Cincinnati)

– 3 strikers: Giorgos Giakoumakis (Atlanta United), Cucho (Columbus Crew), Denis Bouanga (LAFC)

Surprisingly, there was no appearance of Lionel Messi, the current number 1 player in MLS. However, this was expected, because M10’s scored goals in the tournament were not too impressive.

The list of players honored in attack are all top scorers with more than 15 goals in the tournament: Denis Bouanga 24 goals – Golden Shoe, Cucho 20 goals and Giorgos Giakoumakis 19 goals.

As for Messi, he only has a record of 1 goal after 6 matches played in MLS. And that wasn’t enough to guarantee M10 a spot in the MLS Team of the Year.