Messi scores, Mascherano struggles for answers after Inter Miami loses 4-1 to Minnesota
The honeymoon period is over for Inter Miami first-year coach Javier Mascherano, and he must come up with solutions to his team’s troubles in a hurry.
Despite having the most expensive payroll in Major League Soccer and a roster led by Argentine icon Lionel Messi, Miami has lost four of its past five games, including a 4-1 drubbing on the road Saturday against Minnesota United.
It was the most lopsided Inter Miami loss with Messi on the field since his much-ballyhooed arrival in the summer of 2023. After starting the season with strong defensive performances, the men in pink have conceded 14 goals over the past five games and are heading into a Wednesday game on the road against a San Jose Earthquakes team that leads the league with 26 goals.
For the fourth time in the past two weeks, a dejected Mascherano tried to explain in his post-game press conference why his star-studded team struggled to score and why it was so vulnerable against the counterattack.
On Saturday against Minnesota, Miami had 73 percent of ball possession and produced just three shots on goal. Minnesota, by contrast, generated five shots on goal with just 27 percent possession.
“Unfortunately, it is a very tough loss for us,” Mascherano said. “We knew that Minnesota could hurt us in transition and with set pieces, and they ended up hurting us in exactly the way we had prepared for. And that’s what worries me the most.”
He said his team paid a steep price for a few lapses in concentration facing counterattacks, which has become a recurring theme. Opponents are figuring out how neutralize Miami by denying Messi and his attacking partners space to work their magic and outracing Miami players in transition.
“They played a 5-4-1 [five defenders], and did it well, leaving us little space in the final third,” Mascherano said. “We controlled the ball, kept it in their half of the field, pressed high, but we didn’t do enough without the ball. We have to win our duels. We want to be the protagonists and that means taking risks [defensively], but we are losing the ball in transition and the opponent gets counters of 50 to 60 meters. We have to improve on that.”
Noah Allen echoed his coach: “We played bad, and we’ve got to be better in every aspect of the game. It’s disappointing and we have to bounce back on Wednesday.”
Minnesota coach Eric Ramsay said his team carried out its game plan “to perfection”.
He explained: “We’re an athletic team. We’re a very workman-like disciplined from my perspective, a really coachable team full of very honest characters. If we’re going to win games of football against a team like them, it’s going to be in that way.
“I felt like [Messi] would inevitably play the game with a lot of freedom in the way he moved. Once it became fairly clear that it was going to be very difficult to get through our shape, and if we demonstrated the level of discipline that we ultimately did, he was going to find himself outside of our shape often.”
Messi was missing forward Luis Suarez, his former FC Barcelona teammate and good friend, who was not with the team as he left town to tend to an undisclosed personal matter. Also, winger Fafa Picault, who was in Mascherano’s plans, woke up with a severe migraine headache, stayed at the hotel and missed the game.
Asked if the team missed Suarez, midfielder Benja Cremaschi said: “Obviously, having someone at that level always helps. But yeah, we had few opportunities. So, in the next match, we need to focus on trying to create more in order to score.”
Former Inter Miami player Julian Gressel, who was waived by the team a few weeks ago and signed with Minnesota, entered the game in the second half. Defender Michael Boxall said Gressel gave the team some advice about playing against Miami.
“Actually, in the locker room, he said that they will be good for 30 minutes, and then after that, we’ll get a chance, and we scored in the 32nd, so he was spot on,” Boxall said.
Messi scored Miami’s lone goal in the 48th minute off a cross from Jordi Alba.
“It was nice in the sense that Messi has his moment here, and those that have turned up solely for that reason are able to see that,” Ramsay said. “But from our perspective, winning and putting in a performance that the club as a whole can be proud of was what we set out to do, and I felt like we did that really, really well.”
Inter Miami is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 21 points off six wins, two losses and three ties. Cincinnati and Columbus are tied for the East lead with 25 points.
Messi and his teammates will travel to San Jose on Sunday and train there in preparation for Wednesday’s 10:30 p.m. game against the Earthquakes, who are coached by former U.S. national team coach Bruce Arena and whose roster includes former Inter Miami player Josef Martinez.
“If the players’ performance levels drop, clearly, the responsibility falls on me, the coach,” Mascherano said. “If the coach does not convince them or instill in them what he is asking them to do, the responsibility falls on him.”
He has three days to get his team back on the right path.