Suarez, Messi start for Inter Miami vs. Revolution, hungry for win at Nu Stadium
Luis Suarez was in the starting lineup for just the second time this season as defending MLS champion Inter Miami returned to its new home, Nu Stadium, on Saturday seeking its first win in the colorful venue.
Captain Lionel Messi and his teammates settled for ties in the first two games at Nu Stadium and had yet to celebrate a victory there. They entered Saturday’s game riding a wave of confidence after a pair of road wins at altitude over the Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake.
Inter Miami is 2-0 under interim coach Guillermo Hoyos, who took over last week when Javier Mascherano unexpectedly stepped down for personal reasons seven games into the season. His entire staff also resigned.
Hoyos decided to start 39-year-old Suarez at forward on Saturday following his banger of a goal off the bench late in Wednesday’s win over Salt Lake. Suarez, who signed a one-year contract for what he said will be his final season, had started only one game this season and scored two goals in 142 minutes.
After the Salt Lake game, Hoyos was asked if pairing strikers Suarez and German Berterame, as he did in the final 15 minutes Wednesday, was an option in the future. Hoyos replied: “Yes, obviously. Luis is not just an option. He is a player with more than 600 goals. Between them he and Leo [Messi] have scored 1,500 something goals. That is not normal. You don’t see that anywhere. People come out to see their magic. It’s extraordinary.”
In addition to Messi and Suarez, the rest of Miami’s starters Saturday were: Goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, defender Gonzalo Lujan, defender Micael, defender Maxi Falcon, left back Noah Allen, right back Facundo Mura, midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, midfielder David Ruiz, and Berterame.
The bench included Ian Fray, Santi Morales, Tadeo Allende, Rocco Rios-Novo, Daniel Pinter, Preston Plambeck, Daniel Sumalla, Cesar Abadia-Reda, and Alex Shaw.
Winger Mateo Silvetti is still recovering from a left hamstring strain and was not on the game roster. David Ayala (left adductor) and Sergio Reguilon (right hamstring) trained on Friday but were not available for the game.
Midfielder Yannick Bright sat out his second game in a row while serving a one-game MLS-imposed suspension in addition to the red card suspension he served on Wednesday. Midfielder Telasco Segovia was also suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
New England forward Leo Campana, the former Inter Miami fan favorite, missed the game with a lower body injury as did Matt Polster.
Miami, which entered the game Saturday in second place in the Eastern Conference, tied Red Bull New York and Austin FC at Nu Stadium earlier this month.