The ball still ricocheted into the outside of the net, giving the appearance he scored. Messi’s reaction said it all. He raised his arms over his head, through his hair, and onto the back of his head.

In a scenario where a team would make a perfect run to the final, the difference between earnings that the players would split would be $24,525,000 under the MLS proposal and $50,870,000 in the Playe...