According to the CIES Football Observatory, the player is 25-year-old Colombian Cucho Hernandez, who plays for the Columbus Crew. Messi and Inter Miami are competing for the MLS Cup title in the playoffs that are taking place from October 23.
Messi and Cucho Hernandez
According to CIES Football Observatory, Cucho Hernandez is in the top 5 best players in the world along with Messi and Ronaldo. The other 2 players are Karim Benzema and Francisco Trincao (of Sporting CP Club, Portugal). These are statistics for players who do not play in the top 5 national championships in the world, including the Premier League, Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France), Bundesliga (Germany) and La Liga (Spain).
Cucho Hernandez is having the best season of his career, scoring 25 goals (19 in MLS) and providing 13 assists. The 25-year-old and Columbus Crew defeated Messi's Inter Miami 3-2 in the round of 16 of the 2024 Leagues Cup, then went straight to the championship.
However, in the other two regional tournaments, the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Campeones Cup, Columbus Crew only finished as runners-up after losing the finals to two Mexican opponents, Pachuca 0-3 and Club America 4-5 after penalty shootouts (1-1 draw in regulation time).
While Messi has been in blistering form since returning from injury in mid-September (scoring 8 goals and 1 assist), Cucho Hernandez has been in fine form, scoring 6 goals and providing 4 assists in his last 10 MLS games. His impressive performances have caught the attention of Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo, who has called him up for the recent 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia (lost 0-1) and Chile (won 4-0).
CIES Football Observatory statistics with the top 10 best players not playing in the world's top 5 leagues
Photo: CIES Football Observatory
Cucho Hernandez has 38 goals and assists in total. Messi has 34 (22 goals, including 20 in MLS, and 12 assists). According to AS (Spain), Cucho Hernandez is worthy of being in the top 5 best strikers in the world, in the statistics of players not playing in the top 5 national championships.
In this group, CIES Football Observatory ranked Cucho Hernandez in 4th place, after Messi, Benzema (the French player currently playing for Al Ittihad Club) and Ronaldo of Al Nassr, veteran strikers who are still scoring regularly in the Saudi Pro League (Saudi Arabia) and are in the top scorers' league with 8 and 6 goals respectively after the first 7 matches of the season.
Cucho Hernandez ranked above other rising stars such as Francisco Trincao or young star Estevao (17 years old) of Palmeiras Club (Brazil), and French striker Moussa Diaby (Al Ittihad Club, who last season played for Aston Villa in the Premier League).
Cucho Hernandez and Columbus Crew could stand in the way of Messi and Inter Miami to the MLS Cup title
With extremely impressive form, Cucho Hernandez and the Columbus Crew can once again "cause suffering" for Inter Miami and famous player Messi, when they can clash in the Eastern region final of the MLS Cup play-off round.
In the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs, Columbus Crew will face the New York Red Bulls. If they advance, they will face FC Cincinnati or New York City FC. In the other bracket, Inter Miami will face Atlanta United. If they advance, they will face Orlando City SC or Charlotte FC.
If they both get past their opponents, Columbus Crew and Inter Miami could meet for the Eastern Conference title, and will meet the Western Conference champion (with Los Angeles FC and LA Galaxy being the two favorites) for the MLS Cup title on December 7.
Columbus Crew is also the reigning MLS Cup champion, with three wins in 2008, 2020 and 2023.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ngoi-sao-la-co-the-soan-ngoi-messi-tai-mls-185241023141913671.htm
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