Messi, Inter Miami aim for two home wins this week before Club World Cup kicks off
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano and his players enter Wednesday’s home game against CF Montreal energized by the grit and unity they displayed on the road Saturday, scoring three goals in the final 35 minutes to salvage a 3-3 tie against the league-leading Philadelphia Union.
Miami slipped to seventh place in the Eastern Conference, is winless in seven of its past eight games, and gave up 23 goals during that stretch. But the mood was optimistic around training on Tuesday.
“We understand that it needs to be better, but I think we’re going to try to take as many positives as we can from it, because we’ve been in a tough, tough run of games where we haven’t gotten results,” defender Noah Allen said. “It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but we showed togetherness to come back. That’s always important and I think that’s a very big thing we can take going into the game Wednesday, quick turnaround. We’re excited.”
Allen said the team had not fully bounced back from the loss to Vancouver in the Champions Cup semifinals last month, and that this week, with back-to-back home games against Montreal and the Columbus Crew, is a perfect chance to get back to the high level exhibited early in the season.
Mascherano echoed Allen’s sentiments. He said the team emerged from the Philadelphia game stronger because although there were mistakes that led to conceded goals, there were many positive takeaways.
“We allowed three goals, that’s true; unfortunately, the first one on a set piece due to a momentary lapse of concentration and another outside the game [he felt it was offside],” Mascherano said. “But we controlled the game, generated a lot of scoring opportunities, and the way I saw it, our team played in the opponent’s half of the field and played well against an opponent that was the top team in the conference.”
Miami’s recent struggles can be attributed mostly to momentary lapses of concentration, Allen said, and the players must be held accountable.
The criticism of Mascherano is unfair, Allen said.
“Everyone’s just going to blame the coach, or look at the coach first, and it’s understandable, of course, especially when you’re not getting results,” Allen said. “But I think the players have to take accountability first. He’s not on the field. We’re on the field. It’s a difficult time. We’ve also played more games than any other team besides Vancouver.”
Miami and Vancouver lead the league in games played with 22 each, due to their participation in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Los Angeles FC has played 21. Twenty-three of the league’s 30 teams have played 17 games or fewer.
Inter Miami also played the most taxing preseason schedule with five games in Las Vegas, Peru, Panama, Honduras and Tampa.
“There’s a lot of games and there’s going to be times where we’re going to be in bad form, it’s normal,” Allen said. “This happens all over the world. We, as players, have to take accountability and get out of that bad form. [Mascherano] has been helping us, guiding us, trying, pushing hard, and evolving. Wednesday is an opportunity to get out of the bad form.”
Miami will have to play without midfielder Yannick Bright, who injured his right hamstring during the Philadelphia game and was having medical tests done on Tuesday to determine the severity of the injury. Bright had been a regular starter in recent games and paired well with Sergio Busquets.
“Yannick is a very important player for this team, as he was last year, and we lose his physicality, which clearly the team needs,” Mascherano said. “Especially on the defensive side, he gives us a lot and sadly, he had this injury and we hope it is minor so he can return as soon as possible.”
CF Montreal is in last place in the East with just one victory all season, but Mascherano assured fans the opponent is better than its record and Inter Miami is not taking this game lightly.
Montreal is coming off a 2-2 tie against LAFC and has also had good results against the Crew (1-1), Orlando (0-0), and New York City FC (1-0). Players to watch include Prince Osuwu and Giacomo Vrioni.
“Despite their position in the standings, if you watched Montreal’s games, you saw that in several of their games they deserved better results than what they got,” Mascherano said. “I don’t think it’s an opponent we should judge by their record. They played even and gave trouble to Columbus, Philadelphia [2-1 loss], LAFC. They are very physical, like most teams in MLS they have good players in the final third, and we expect a tough opponent.”
How to watch: Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at Chase Stadium. The game will be shown on Apple TV.
Luis Suarez, Messi launch team
Luis Suarez has scored just two goals in 11 MLS games this season after being a Golden Boot finalist last year with 20 goals.
Mascherano does not criticize individual players publicly, but he did not offer a ringing endorsement of Suarez.
Asked about Suarez’s slump, Mascherano said: “I’m not here to single anyone out. You can do whatever analysis you want, you have that right, that is your job. We try to analyze different situations. We know how important Luis is for the club, in general. The club a year and a half ago decided to go with this project and we have to adapt to that.”
Meanwhile, Suarez announced on Tuesday that he is launching a fourth-division professional team in his native Uruguay and that Messi will be a partner. The club will be called Deportivo LSM (Luis Suarez Messi) and will be an extension of a community club Deportivo LS that Suarez and his family founded in 2018.
“This was a dream that is very close to my heart, we have grown a lot with more than 3,000 members, offering a lot of activities for young girls and boys, and with so many years in my career, I want to remember my beginnings,” Suarez said. “Now, I want to give young Uruguayan children a chance to follow their dreams.”
Suarez and Messi appear together on a video introducing the project.
“I want to thank Luis for inviting me to join him in this project,” Messi said. “This project has been in the works for a long time and has grown a lot and now I am proud to be part of it and will support it in any way I can.”
Picault, Ruiz will not play in Gold Cup
Fafa Picault was on Haiti’s preliminary roster for the upcoming Gold Cup and David Ruiz was listed for Honduras, but Mascherano said they will stay with Inter Miami and not report for their national teams.
“No, no, as you can see, we don’t have players to spare, so they will not play in the Gold Cup,” Mascherano said.
Club World Cup Reinforcements for Inter Miami?
Mascherano was asked about the possibility of signing reinforcements for the Club World Cup, which kicks off June 14. He reiterated that he told club management the areas he felt needed help, and now it is out of his hands.
“I honestly think is a complex situation because we are at May 27, and we know the restrictions there are in coming to play in the United States, in addition to making a transfer, then there is all the paperwork,” he said.
This story was originally published May 27, 2025 at 2:34 PM.