Messi, Inter Miami seek first win at Nu Stadium Saturday vs. New England
Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates, energized after a pair of road wins, are back home against the New England Revolution on Saturday and hungry for their first victory at their new home, Nu Stadium.
Miami tied Red Bull New York and Austin FC at the new venue earlier this month, and then, in one of the most shocking moves in league history, Javier Mascherano announced he was stepping down as coach of the defending MLS Cup champions just seven games into the season. His entire staff also resigned.
Sporting director Guillermo Hoyos, Messi’s confidant since the Argentine legend was a teenager, took over as coach and led the team to road wins against the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake. The 2-0 win over RSL on Wednesday was Miami’s second clean sheet of the season, after conceding eight goals in its previous four games.
Miami is in second place in the Eastern Conference standings with 18 points off five wins, one loss and three ties. The Revolution is in third place with 15 points with five wins and three losses.
Despite failing to convert many scoring chances during the two games, Miami’s attack continues to deliver with 18 goals scored, the second most in the Eastern Conference. Messi has scored seven of those, including two against Salt Lake. His two closest friends on the team, Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez, scored the other two on second-half scorchers.
“The football Messi has is pure magic, and it never expires,” Hoyos said, asked to assess the captain’s form and physical condition a few months before the World Cup.
New England, meanwhile, is riding a four-game win streak and coming off a midweek win against Atlanta.
Asked about facing the Revolution, Hoyos said: “It will be a very difficult game against a difficult team. They have very good players, like the ones we have faced the past two games. They are good teams and it is even competition. We expect an intense team that likes to be the protagonist and with interesting players.
“We have incredibly strong weapons ourselves, so I expect a great spectacle.”
Marko Mitrovic had a similar assessment of Inter Miami.
“We play against the [defending] MLS Cup champion, a team that has a very strong roster,” Mitrovic said. “They’re also a team that’s coming off two road wins. Inter Miami, no matter what moment they’re at, they’re always a difficult team, a team that can change the game to their favor in any moment.
“We’re very aware of their qualities, but we’re also within our process where we feel that we have certain moments in our game where we feel very positive. Obviously, we have things that we have to improve but we are going to do everything to be ready for [Saturday’s] game.”
Hoyos was asked if he plans any roster rotation, considering that it will be the team’s third game in a week and it was a long trip out west. The six players who went the full 90 minutes against Colorado and Salt Lake were Messi, De Paul, Facundo Mura, Maxi Falcon, Micael and Dayne St. Clair.
“That’s a good question, but not ready to give an answer,” he said, smiling, before training Friday morning. “We have one more training session, so we can’t talk about the lineup yet.”
Winger Mateo Silvetti is still recovering from a hamstring strain and was not at the training session open to the media Friday morning. David Ayala and Sergio Reguilon are back from injuries and trained with the group.
Midfielder Yannick Bright will miss the game Saturday while serving an MLS-imposed suspension in addition to the red card suspension he served on Wednesday. Midfielder Telasco Segovia also will sit out due to yellow card accumulation.
Jackson Yueill, Brayan Ceballos, Matt Polster and former Inter Miami forward Leo Campana are questionable for New England due to lower-body injuries.
Among the New England players to watch are forward Luca Langoni, midfielder Carles Gil, forward Dor Turgeman, midfielder Alhassan Yusuf and U.S. national team goalkeeper Matt Turner, who made eight saves against Atlanta.
Saturday’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on Apple TV.