Messi on Argentina roster for Copa tuneups. How many Inter Miami games will he miss?
Copa America kicks off in a month, which means Inter Miami will have Lionel Messi for three more games, at most, before he reports to national team duty with defending World Cup and Copa America champion Argentina.
As expected, Messi was included in Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni’s roster for Copa America tuneup matches against Ecuador June 9 in Chicago and Guatemala June 14 in Landover, Maryland, before the tournament kicks off June 20 with Argentina vs. Canada in Atlanta. Scaloni announced the roster on Monday.
Assuming Messi leaves for national team training the first week of June, he would be available to play for Inter Miami on Saturday on the road against Vancouver, on May 29 at home against Atlanta, and on June 1 at home against St. Louis.
That would be three games in a week, so it remains to be seen whether the Inter Miami captain would play the full 90 minutes in all three, play limited minutes, or skip a game to rest.
He stands to miss five to seven Inter Miami games, depending how deep Argentina goes in the Copa, which concludes with the July 14 final at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
Three other key players who might be selected for Copa America are forward Luis Suarez with Uruguay, midfielder Matias Rojas with Paraguay and Leo Campana with Ecuador.
Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender, who was a potential candidate for the United States Copa America team, was left off the roster that coach Gregg Berhalter announced Monday for the pre-Copa training camp. Only four MLS players were on the U.S. roster, the rest are based overseas.
Having Callender around in June and July is welcome news for Inter Miami, as the co-captain has been a vital part of the team’s success during the past year.
“Drake’s performance last year was so superlative that it would have been difficult to maintain that level; but he is a player who continues to save games for us, as he did [Saturday] and as he did many games last year,” Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said. “He kept us in the game with that save [Saturday], and because of that we were able to win.”
Inter Miami leads the MLS Supporters Shield race with 31 points on nine wins, two losses and four ties. The team is on a nine-game unbeaten streak heading in the game Saturday in Vancouver. Martino said the goal is to win the next three games and build a cushion of points atop the standings before Copa America and the Olympics takes Messi, and potentially Rojas, Suarez, and Campana, away this summer.
“We need [other players] to feel confident and play well because if not, we will not survive the five or six-game stretch when we lose players for FIFA dates, for Copa America and the Olympics,” Martino said.
Injury update: Starting center back Nico Freire suffered an ACL injury in his right knee, will undergo surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Martino said midfielder Fede Redondo, who has missed two months due to a knee injury, is in the final stage of recovery and expected to return either for the Vancouver road game or the Atlanta game at home next week. Center back Ian Fray is also expected back in the next week, and he will be needed with the absence of Freire.
This story was originally published May 20, 2024 at 2:29 PM.