Inter Miami’s loss in the Leagues Cup final to the Seattle Sounders on Sunday, August 31, robbed Lionel Messi’s team of the penultimate of their bullets to lift a title this season, following their elimination from the CONCACAF Champions Cup in April, and forced ‘Las Garzas’ to give their all in MLS to salvage a blank year.
With the exception of the FIFA Club World Cup, in which Inter Miami qualified for the round of 16 and only lost to Paris Saint-Germain (4-0), the team’s season has been characterized by irregularity in MLS, with excessive dependence on Messi, and a lack of results in decisive matches in the ‘Concachampions’ and the Leagues Cup.
Prior to their loss to the Sounders, Inter Miami had been eliminated last April in the semifinals of the continental competition with a 1-5 aggregate defeat to Vancouver Whitecaps.
The presence of Messi, who played in both matches, was insufficient.
Meanwhile in MLS, the domestic competition, Inter Miami is 11 points behind the Eastern Conference leaders – albeit with four games in hand – and occupies sixth place in the table.
A defense that is ‘in a state of disarray
Although this record allows them to depend on themselves to reach the MLS Supporters Shield -the trophy awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the regular season-, the fragility of their defensive line has been the norm during the year, conceding a series of uncharacteristic goals for a team with their aspirations.
Inter Miami has suffered five MLS defeats, but all of them were accompanied by three or four goals conceded, a lack of reliability that, in decisive moments such as against the Whitecaps and Sounders, has prevented them from showing their mettle.
“We have neither Busquetsdependence nor Alba nor Messi nor De Paul nor Suarezdependence. We depend on all our teammates,” said Uruguayan Luis Suarez recently at a press conference, highlighting the need for the rest of the players to support us in order to achieve victories.
But beyond these big names, whose performance has also been called into question at times, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano has often called for defensive signings to build a more competitive side.
Who steps forward?
While Messi has been in his usual form, despite occasional injuries, and remains one of the MLS regular season MVP candidates, Inter Miami has found itself short of solutions when the Argentine star has not been on the field.
Suárez, who would be his natural replacement in the goalscoring role, has been hampered by physical problems with his knees, and has combined memorable performances – such as the two goals in the Leagues Cup quarter-final against Tigres – with less effective ones, for a total of 13 goals in 40 games.
The recently signed Rodrigo De Paul came to add more quality in the creative phase, where the Spaniard Sergio Busquets was already playing, but his addition came after they had been eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup and was not enough to lift the Leagues Cup.
Mascherano does not make ‘Tata’ forget
Mascherano’s arrival on the bench was another novelty this season. The Argentine replaced Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino at the helm of Inter Miami after a year in which ‘The Herons’ only won the MLS Supporters Shield.
Before being recognized as the best team of the regular season, Inter Miami had fallen in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and in the round of 16 of the Leagues Cup. After receiving the title, they were eliminated in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
However, under ‘Tata’ Martino, the club won the first official title in its history in 2023: the Leagues Cup 2023.
The team has gone further in all competitions this year under Mascherano, but the inconsistency in MLS has been much greater than a year ago. Now that all the club’s title options are in the domestic competition, they will miss the points they gave up thinking about the rest of the tournaments.
Should Inter Miami fail to reach the MLS Supporters Shield or be crowned in the subsequent playoffs, which award the MLS Cup, the club would sign its first blank season since 2022, the last year of the pre-Messi era, EFE reported.
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