After claiming the MLS Golden Boot, Lionel Messi has been named to the MLS Best XI for the second time since joining Inter Miami. The recognition comes after Messi finished with the second-most goal contributions in a single season in MLS history and became the second player in league history to lead the league in goals and assists.
The squad features six first-time honorees and players representing nine different clubs, with the Philadelphia Union and Vancouver Whitecaps each seeing two players recognized. The team features multiple award winners, too, including Golden Boot winner (and MVP favorite) Messi, MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Dayne St. Clair, MLS Defender of the Year Tristan Blackmon, MLS Young Player of the Year Alex Freeman, and MLS Newcomer of the Year Anders Dreyer.
Freeman is the youngest player named to the Best XI in five years (Brenden Aaronson in 2020), while Dreyer joins Roman Burki and Walker Zimmerman in making the list from a first-year expansion team in the 2020s. Denis Bouanga, meanwhile, became the first player since Josef Martinez to make the team three consecutive times as he joins Dreyer and Messi as the three attackers in the team.
Best XI in full
Goalkeeper: Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United FC)
Defenders: Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Alex Freeman (Orlando City SC), Jakob Glesnes (Philadelphia Union), Kai Wagner (Philadelphia Union)
Midfielders: Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Evander (FC Cincinnati), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC)
Forwards: Denis Bouanga (LAFC), Anders Dreyer (San Diego FC), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami CF)
Four players in the side have played for the U.S. men’s national team this year: Freeman, Blackmon, Sebastian Berhalter and Cristian Roldan. All four were in the U.S. squad for the September camp, with Roldan and Freeman returning for the October camp as well. Berhalter, meanwhile, joined Freeman this summer in representing the U.S. on the run to the Gold Cup final.
Canada, too, is represented by St. Clair, who becomes the second Canadian player to be named to the MLS Best XI in the last decade, following Tajon Buchanan in 2021.
The five domestic selections are the most since 2015, when there were also five: Luis Robles, Matt Hedges, Benny Feilhaber, Ethan Finlay and Dax McCarty, all American.
Of the Best XI selections, Freeman is the only one not left in the playoffs after Orlando City were knocked out in the Wild Card round. All five deciding Game 3s of the current round will be played this weekend.
