Lionel Messi won MLS Player of the Matchday again, but here at How We Voted, the column all about each and every Player of the Matchday vote I cast, this week's vote went in a different direction.
This vote has gone to Messi on two previous occasions, but another Argentina attacker, albeit one with a slightly less impressive individual stat line than Messi's, felt to me like the man of this Matchday 22 in the 2025 Major League Soccer season.
Messi can't get every vote, even if he does seem to win every Player of the Matchday vote for which he's a serious contender. Sometimes there's just a wild seven-goal thriller in the Western Conference that demands more attention than a workmanlike beating of one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference.
Read on for my explanation for choosing one Argentine No 10 over one of the best-ever Argentine No 10s, plus we've got some New York City FC-centric news in Team of the Matchday with two players earning spots in the Starting XI.
The HRB Ballot, Matchday 22
1. Ezequiel Ponce, Houston Dynamo FC
San Diego FC were riding a four-match winning streak, climbing to the top of the Western Conference, but they got knocked off their pedestal by a stunning performance from Houston Dynamo FC forward Ezequiel Ponce in a 3-4 road win for Houston at Snapdragon Stadium.
Ponce scored the two goals that got the Dynamo their comeback win, with his match-winner especially dramatic given that it came in the 90'+10' in a match that featured a whopping 17 minutes of second-half stoppage time, due to a lengthy injury delay when San Diego goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos suffered a bloody nose in a collision.
San Diego had a lead until the 87th minute, when Ponce scored his equalizer from the penalty spot. It wasn't just the PK conversion for the Argentine: Ponce got in behind the high line of the San Diego defense and was ready to take a touch past the keeper before being hacked down and earning the foul. You get extra credit from me when you're fouled while going 1-v-1 on goal and then convert the subsequent penalty chance.
Ponce saved his real Player of the Matchday-worthy moment for deep in stoppage time. What an instinctual finish this is as the Argentine No 10 didn't have a ton of space in which to operate, but also didn't hesitate at all before rolling a match-winner with pace inside the far post to snap San Diego's impressive winning streak. It's not a simple goal to score and the stakes of when he scored it make it extra special.
Video via @HoustonDynamo
The last-gasp nature of it and the quality of the finish made this the moment that sealed my vote for Ponce this week. Sorry, Messi, sometimes there's another Argentine doing something slightly more impressive than you.
2. Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF
Messi wanted to turn the difficulty up slightly while facing CF Montréal in his first MLS match back after the FIFA Club World Cup, so he gifted the home Canadian team a goal inside the match's first five minutes by making an uncharacteristic error in possession.
Was the Messi mishap that led to Prince Owusu giving Montréal an early lead really enough to get me to vote against the Miami star? It didn't help his case in my eyes. Messi was still the reason Miami came back into the game and killed off any hope of a Montréal upset, but Montréal also folded like a house of cards once put under real pressure by Messi and the Miami attack. In the end, I voted Ponce because his heroics came against a tougher road opponent and felt more single-handedly influential on the result than Messi and his teammates running through a bottom-feeding team in the East.
Still, that second goal from Messi in the 62nd minute – and the fact that he had a brace, plus an assist on the Miami opener – was probably good enough to win him the Player of the Matchday vote without needing much further thought from many of the voters. A real FC Barcelona-era throwback from the 38-year-old Argentine legend that made it a 4-1 advantage for the Herons at the Stade Saputo.
Video via @InterMiamiCF
Still an incredible performance from Messi, who showed no signs of any hangover from the Club World Cup, and will now try to pull Miami up the Eastern Conference standings after they've languished around 6th and 7th Place in the conference.
Official Player of the Matchday: Messi
You shouldn't be surprised to see Messi winning this award for the third time this season and ninth time since he joined the league. He'd been playing at an MVP-type level for Miami in the league prior to the break for the Club World Cup, so picking up where he left off against a less-than-stellar team feels right – he's now got at least two goals and one assist in three consecutive MLS matches. Voters aren't going to turn their noses up when the GOAT picks up two goals and an assist, and I'm not sure how much thought people really gave Ezequiel Ponce once they saw that one of his goals was a penalty kick.
Messi continues to perform and continues to soak in the adulation and grab any MLS awards out there for the taking. How will he and his more senior Miami teammates handle the rest of the hot, grueling summer of MLS action? We'll see how many more Player of the Matchday awards they can rack up between now and late October – or maybe they'll just bring in Messi's Argentina national team bodyguard to help ensure things keep rolling along smoothly.
MLS Team of the Matchday
Starters: John Pulskamp (SKC) - Carlos Harvey (MIN), Ethan Bartlow (HOU), Mitja Ilenič (NYC) - Evander (CIN), Erik Thommy (SKC), Pep Biel (CLT), Hannes Wolf (NYC) - Joseph Paintsil (LA), Ezequiel Ponce (HOU), Lionel Messi (MIA)
Coach: Ben Olsen (HOU)
Bench: Oscar Ustari (MIA), Ian Smith (POR), Anthony Markanich (MIN), Diogo Gonçalves (RSL), David Da Costa (POR), Onni Valakari (SD), Tadeo Allende (MIA), Hany Mukhtar (NSH), Ramiro Enrique (ORL)
Big showing for New York City FC off the heels of their commanding 3-1 win over lowly Toronto FC at Yankee Soccer Stadium last Thursday night, which feels like forever ago given there's been a holiday weekend and tons of other important soccer games – MLS or otherwise – played in the interim. Hannes Wolf is back in the XI again, an honor he also enjoyed after NYCFC's previous game at Yankee Stadium when they beat Atlanta United FC 4-0 during the weird international break-that-wasn't.
Wolf has been the New York City MVP since Alonso Martínez's goalscoring slowed down, but the surprise entrant in Team of the Matchday might be fullback Mitja Ilenič. Ilenič had a hugely influential performance against Toronto, leading NYCFC in touches and pass attempts while menacing the TFC backline with forward runs toward goal while tapping into all his attacking fullback potential. NYCFC section complete, the Team of the Matchday also showed plenty of love to Houston for that hugely entertaining win over San Diego, with Ponce, plus Ethan Bartlow and head coach Ben Olsen included in this squad.
Evander of FC Cincinnati and Messi of Miami feel like constants in these Teams of the Matchday – Evander got our vote for the previous Matchday and had a decent case for getting it again as Cincinnati won again thanks largely to his attacking exploits. Miami, Cincinnati, New York City – a good Matchday representation-wise for current playoff teams in the Eastern Conference.
