With Lionel Messi, Inter Miami hosts Charlotte FC this Saturday, September 28 (7:30 pm TV: AppleTV) at Chase Stadium in search of three very important points in their quest to win the Supporters Shield as the team with the most points in the MLS this season.
Inter (19-7-4) is in first place in the East with 64 points, six more than second-place Cincinnati, while Charlotte (11-8-11) is sixth in the same conference with 41.
Messi trained normally on Friday, as he did throughout the week, and was seen in good spirits during a session open to the media alongside Luis Suarez with his new look, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
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While Suarez is the team’s top scorer this season with 17 goals, Messi is the top contributor with 28 after scoring 14 goals and providing 14 assists. Meanwhile Busquets and Suarez, in addition to being used more in defense, are the team’s main offensive generators and main ball providers.
After playing in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against NY City in New York, Leo is expected to start again against Charlotte. What is not clear is whether he will play the full 90 minutes, as the Miami team has a tough match at home to the Columbus Crew on Wednesday.
“Obviously Leo doesn’t need to do separate physical work in training, but what he needs is a competitive rhythm,” said Martino. “Every time he plays 90 minutes, it gives me the indication that he will be in very good shape for the playoffs, as well as playing with us for the national team. We have high hopes that he will be in very good shape.”
Miami, with last Saturday’s draw at Yankee Stadium after a goal by striker Leonardo Campana, who extended his lead as the club’s all-time leading scorer with 31 goals in all competitions, earned one point and now needs eight points in four games to win the Supporters Shield on their own.
Saturday’s home game will be the second between the teams this regular season. Inter Miami last won 2-1 on the road on July 3. Charlotte visits South Florida after beating the New England Revolution 4-0 at home on Saturday.
Paraguayan midfielders Diego Gomez and Matis Rojas were also seen working normally at Friday’s training session. Both are available for Saturday’s game.
“They trained normally, they had a normal week. Matias had a serious ankle sprain in training and it took him a few weeks. And Diego only needed to stop for a week, he left the game against Cincinnati with discomfort in his hindquarters, we were looking after him, we thought he could be in New York, but it was a risk and he didn’t travel.”
Tata has had to improvise in the center of the defense with David Martinez injured and it is not clear who will play against Charlotte.
“The issue now is that we have David [Martinez] injured but we have had a very nice response from both Noah [Allen] and Ian [Fray] who have played in that position. Sergio as a center-back means that Jannick is part of the team and that is where we make an assessment that we analyze every time we play a match.”
Last Thursday, Messi and the rest of the Inter players fulfilled the wishes of 23 seriously ill children from the charity ‘Make a Wish’ and welcomed them to Miami for a four-day event organized by the Pink Club.
It was also revealed that Inter Miami, thanks to Messi, is the most popular American sports team on social media, generating millions of dollars for the MLS.
