Messi, Inter Miami teammates return from national duty to tackle MLS playoff race
Seven Inter Miami players are making their way back from national team duty to prepare for the final stretch of the MLS season, which begins on Saturday with a road game against a Charlotte FC team riding an eight-game winning streak.
Miami will be without forward Luis Suarez for the next three games, as he serves an MLS-imposed ban for his behavior during a post-game brawl in Seattle after the Leagues Cup final loss against the Sounders, whom Miami faces in a rematch at home on Tuesday. He also is suspended for six matches of the 2026 Leagues Cup.
Without Suarez, there will be additional weight on the shoulders of Lionel Messi, who last week scored a pair of goals for Argentina in an emotional 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Venezuela, likely his final qualifier in his home country. His family was on hand for the occasion.
Messi skipped Argentina’s match at Ecuador on Tuesday night, choosing instead to return to South Florida and spend the week training for the upcoming crowded MLS schedule. Inter Miami has seven games over the next 22 days.
Miami has played four fewer matches than most of the teams in the league due to the club’s participation in three tournaments (Concacaf Champions Cup, Club World Cup, Leagues Cup), so now it must catch up.
Inter Miami is in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings with 46 points, trailing first-place Philadelphia Union by 11 points. Cincinnati is in second place with 52 points, Charlotte and Nashville are in third and fourth with 50 and Orlando City is fifth with 47.
Other Miami players returning from national team duty are:
Rodrigo De Paul (Argentina): De Paul played 68 minutes for Argentina in a 1-0 loss to Ecuador on Tuesday night and wound up wearing the captain’s armband after Nicolas Otamendi was ejected with a red card in the 31st minute. Argentina had already qualified for the 2026 World Cup atop the CONMEBOL standings.
It was De Paul’s 80th appearance for the national team and he moved into 13th place all -time.
“It is a huge honor to reach 80 games with the national team,” he told reporters after the match. “I never thought I’d achieve such a high number of matches, titles, and super-nice moments. I’m very happy with everything I’ve experienced and am experiencing with this jersey,”
Telasco Segovia (Venezuela): Segovia scored the opening goal for Venezuela at the three-minute mark in a critical World Cup qualifier against Colombia on Tuesday night, but Venezuela wound up losing 6-3 after giving up four goals to Colombia’s Luis Suarez (not the one who plays for Inter Miami). With the loss, Venezuela was eliminated from contention for a World Cup qualifying playoff spot, which went to Bolivia.
Fafa Picault (Haiti): Picault played in Haiti’s 0-0 tie against Honduras in a World Cup qualifier last week but left late in the game with an unspecified injury. He did not play in the 3-3 tie against Costa Rica Tuesday. His status for the Charlotte game is unknown.
David Ruiz (Honduras): Ruiz played for Honduras in World Cup qualifying, entered in the second half of the game against Nicaragua, but left the game with a leg injury in the 81st minute.
Noah Allen (Greece U21): Allen (“Noa Alen” in Greek) started for the Greece U21 team in a 5-0 win on the road against Malta in a European Championship qualifying match.
Santi Morales (USA U19): Morales participated in a U.S. U19 training camp in Fayetteville, Georgia.
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 2:07 PM.