Inter Miami might be missing a few players for MLS opener Saturday vs. NYCFC. Here’s why
.jpg "Feb 19, 2025; Kansas City, Kansas, USA; Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) and Sporting Kansas City defender Tim Leibold (14) go after the ball during the first half at Children’s Mercy Park, a game that was played in sub-zero temperatures.")
If Lionel Messi and his teammates seem a bit tired and stiff in their MLS season opener against NYCFC on Saturday night, there is a reasonable explanation.
The Inter Miami team plane landed at 4 a.m. Thursday after a brutal 1-0 road victory against Sporting KC in sub-zero temperatures in Kansas City. Coach Javier Mascherano gave players the day off, saying they deserved it after playing in conditions he described as “inhumane,” so they had only Friday to prepare for Saturday’s big home game.
Game time was moved from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to give Miami players a bit more time to recover after their Concacaf Champions Cup game at Sporting KC was pushed from Tuesday to Wednesday due to a snowstorm. But those extra five hours might not be enough.
Messi, who scored the lone Miami goal, went the full 90 minutes in Kansas City, and Luis Suarez played until the 90-minute mark before being replaced by Robert Taylor for the added time.
Mascherano said he expects some absences from the regular Miami starting lineup for the MLS opener.
Asked Friday morning before training if everyone was available for the game, Mascherano replied: “No, everyone is not available, but I’m not going to tell you whom [smiling]. I don’t want to give you any clues. But, the majority of them will be.
“We are recuperating, it hasn’t even been 48 hours since we played in Kansas. Everyone saw the conditions under which we played. That requires us to wait a little longer to see how the players recover as this is an unprecedented situation for all of us.”
He added that they will line up “the best 11 for Saturday that we think can give 100 percent.”
The coaching staff also must consider that the second and decisive leg of the Champions Cup against Sporting KC is Tuesday night at Chase Stadium.
“We know we have two very important games coming up,” Mascherano said. “One is the start of the season, at our home, with our fans. You always want to make a statement in your opening game to the fans and the rest of the league. And, obviously, we know the importance of the game Tuesday. That’s why we must evaluate everything and then decide the lineup.”
One key player who is expected back in the Starting XI is left back Jordi Alba, who missed the Sporting KC game while serving a rollover suspension for a red card he received against Mexican club Monterrey in the tournament last April. Alba also had been dealing with some discomfort from a minor injury he suffered during a preseason game in Peru.
“I have some discomfort in my right leg, but it doesn’t impede my ability to play,” Alba said Friday. “It does limit me a little bit, but I am available for what the coach asks me to do.”
Asked how the team will look different under first-year coach Mascherano, Alba said:
“We’ll see. Last year we had a great run with [Coach] Tata [Martino] and his staff. It was us [the players] who failed in the playoffs. Nothing changes. Every coach has a system and we will try to implement what Masche tells us. But I always say, coaches help a lot, but it’s the players on the field who are responsible, for the good and the bad.”
Players who may not be available on Saturday are goalkeeper Drake Callender, who has missed the entire preseason with an adductor injury, Yannick Bright (leg laceration) and David Martinez (ankle).
Mascherano stressed that he does not feel pressure in his first season at the helm of MLS’s most expensive and high-profile team.
“We will do everything we can to win, but at the end of the day, it’s futbol,” he said. “As we Argentineans like to say, `Futbol is the most important of the least important things.’”
He said he is especially motivated to help develop the young players on the squad.
“Experience is something you can’t buy, you acquire it with time, and we have some good young players like Toto [Aviles], Noah Allen, Ian Fray, Leo Afonso, Santi Morales, players who came up from the academy,” he said. “I have special feeling for those players from the academy who have a sense of belonging to this club that the rest of us who just got here don’t have. We have to help them because nobody wants this club to succeed as much as those young men who were born here.”
NYCFC is also under the direction of a first-year coach, Pascal Jansen. New York is led by Costa Rican forward Alonso Martinez, who scored 16 goals last season, but might be without playmaker Santi Rodriguez, who is reportedly on his way to Brazilian club Botafogo for a transfer fee of $17 million.
New York finished sixth in the Eastern Conference last season with 50 points but lost in the conference semifinals to New York Red Bulls.
How to Watch: Inter Miami vs. NYCFC will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Apple TV MLS Season Pass.
Inter Miami partners with UNICEF
The Inter Miami CF Foundation and UNICEF on Friday announced a global partnership today that will support education programs for children in five countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.
As part of a three-year partnership, funds raised will support children at risk in Argentina, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Mexico. The partnership also aims to increase access to digital and online learning, while ensuring teachers have adequate training and resources.
The partnership kicks off on Saturday at the Inter Miami home opener, where fans will be able to make donations by rounding up at every point of sale at Chase Stadium. Additional fundraising activities will follow throughout the partnership.
This story was originally published February 21, 2025 at 5:46 PM.