Inter Miami (minus Matuidi) on the road vs. Atlanta United Wednesday. Here are details
Blaise Matuidi will not travel with Inter Miami for Wednesday’s game against Atlanta United; but the newly-signed French midfielder is in South Florida, and expected to be cleared to play next week, according to coach Diego Alonso.
Matuidi arrived in town last week. Per league rules, he must be tested repeatedly for COVID-19 and be quarantined for up to 10 days. The coach did not specify whether Matuidi would be available for Sunday’s home game against Nashville, or whether his debut would likely be the Sept. 9 rescheduled home game against Atlanta.
The sooner the better. Inter Miami could certainly use his help.
Through seven games, Miami has one win, six losses, and sits in last place among the 14 Eastern Conference teams. Atlanta is in eighth place with three wins and four losses.
Miami, which is coming off a 1-0 road loss at Nashville, has been outscored 11-6 this season. Only fellow expansion club Nashville has scored fewer goals (4).
“If somebody would have told me we’d have this record at this moment, I’d say, ‘No,’” said midfielder Victor Ulloa. “We have great players. But our attitude is positive. We’re competitors and we’re tired of losing. The only way to do that is to keep working. The beauty is, it may sound cliché, but you always have another opportunity, and we have one [Wednesday] in Atlanta. We want to score goals. We had a lot of shots against Nashville, but we were missing that final pass, that final touch, the most important one.”
Inter Miami outshot Nashville 19-5 on Sunday, including a 5-2 edge in shots on goal, but couldn’t finish.
Ulloa believes Matuidi will make an immediate impact when he joins the squad. The 33-year-old won multiple titles with Juventus in Italy, Paris Saint Germain in France, and he was a starter on the 2018 World Cup champion French team.
“What can I say about the guy? A World Cup champion is going to be on our team,” Ulloa said. “It’s going to be unbelievable for us to have him in training and he’s going to bring that dynamic we need in the midfield, that box-to-box runner, that intensity that he’s used to is really going to help us. We know the caliber of player, and talent he has, so we’re hoping he can get on the pitch with us soon.”
Inter Miami captain and goalkeeper Luis Robles agreed.
“We’re talking about a guy who has literally won everything,” Robles said. “World Cups, league titles, he’s been on some very talented squads. His leadership and experience coming into our locker room is a huge boost for us. We look forward to his arrival. Everyone’s excited. It’s going to be awesome to have a player of his stature, and his winning mentality will be massive for us.”
But Matuidi won’t be at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Wednesday night, so Inter Miami will have to rely on its existing roster. Against Nashville, Alonso sent in Lee Nguyen, Brek Shea, Dylan Nealis, Juan Agudelo and Robbie Robinson off the bench in the 75th minute, and they energized the team. Asked if he has considered starting Nguyen in the midfield, Alonso said he had, but other players got the nod thus far.
Wednesday’ game is a matchup of teams that are alike in many ways. Inter Miami chief operating officer Paul McDonough came from Atlanta United, where he had a big hand in building the roster that won the 2018 MLS Cup title. He did it by signing rising Latin American talent, which he has done again in Miami with the signings of Matias Pellegrini, Julian Carranza, Rodolfo Pizarro, Andres Reyes, and Nico Figal.
Pizarro is looking forward to playing against fellow Mexicans Jurgen Damm and Erick “El Cubo” Torres.
Atlanta also features Pity Martinez, the Argentine 2018 South American Footballer of the Year. Martinez, 27, played at River Plate in Argentina from 2015-19 and is a member of the Argentine national team.
Wednesday’s game is at 7 p.m. and will be televised on FS1.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 4:05 PM.