Messi leads the MLS Best XI for the second year in a row
The Argentine scored 29 goals in 28 games, statistics that helped him win the MLS Golden Ball.
Leo Messi, during an MLS match with Inter Miami.
(AFP) Lionel Messi was again picked in the MLS, which this year has a smaller presence of Hispanic-American players.
In his second full season with Inter Miami, Messi repeated his presence in the ideal team thanks to his spectacular output of 29 goals in 28 games, which earned him his first Golden Shoe of the competition.
The selection, announced Wednesday by MLS, does not include any other of Inter's recognized stars: Spain's Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, Uruguay's Luis Suarez and Argentina's Rodrigo De Paul, who landed in Miami in July.
Brazilian playmaker Evander, leader of FC Cincinnati, is the other South American player in the ideal eleven.
Also selected as goalkeeper was Canadian Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United) and in defense the Americans Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps) and Alex Freeman (Orlando City), German Kai Wagner (Philadelphia Union) and Norwegian Jakob Glesnes (Philadelphia Union).
American midfielders Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), whose father is Guatemalan, Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps), and Cristian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps). Gabonese attacker Denis Bouanga (LAFC) and Denmark's Anders Dreyer (San Diego FC) round out the best eleven of 2025.
The selection was shaped in a vote of journalists, players and coaching staff from the 30 franchises conducted at the close of the regular season.
Last year's best team included up to five South American players: Evander, Messi, fellow Argentine Luciano Acosta and Colombians Juan Camilo Cucho Hernández and Yeimar Gómez.
Messi, 38, is the fan favorite to win the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the coming days, an award for which Evander, Bouanga, Dreyer and England's Sam Surridge (Nashville SC) are also finalists.
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