On Saturday afternoon, Lionel Messi was not present at Audi Field. When he was in South Florida, he was recovering from a pulled hamstring. However, Inter Miami felt the influence of the Argentine great, as his colleagues defeated D.C. United 3-1 in his absence.
Outside the stadium, street merchants were selling Messi jerseys, scarves, and bucket hats in both Spanish and English on every corner.
The first goal by Leo Campana in the 24th minute and the second and third by Uruguayan forward Luis “El Pistolero” (The Gunslinger) Suarez, who came off the bench in the 62nd minute and proved why he is one of the most prolific goal scorers of his generation, were cheered on by thousands of fans wearing pink Messi No. 10 jerseys and No. 10 Argentina shirts.
In his first seven games wearing a Miami jersey, Suarez had six goals and five assists.
Julian Gressel, a midfielder for Miami, said, “You know the quality he has, so he obviously brings a little different dimension in the sense that you want to give him a couple of chances and he might put one away pretty quickly.” When a player of his caliber enters the field, you can always sense a tiny surge of energy.
“When you talk about Luis, it’s a similar situation as Leo (Messi), Busi, and Jordi,” Miami coach Tata Martino said regarding Suarez. Nothing about it is novel. Throughout his career, he has done all of these things. He altered the game for us after we determined he would play for thirty minutes. He looks better every game, and his ability to score goals is a huge asset for us, so that makes me very pleased.
Despite missing Messi for two straight league games, Inter Miami leads the Eastern Conference with three victories, a draw, and a defeat (10 points).
In the 14th minute, D.C. took the lead thanks to a rocket-like shot from Jared Stroud that went between Miami defenders Noah Allen and Nico Freire to the upper left corner. Ten minutes later, Campana gave Miami the equalizer with a left-footed effort from the middle of the box after Fede Redondo’s insidious move and ball.
Not only Messi was absent from Inter Miami’s starting squad on Saturday. After Freire left the field hurt in the 31st minute, Sergiy Kryvtsov joined the game and Suarez and Jordi Alba came on late off the bench.
It was Robert Taylor, Campana, and Gressel leading the attack instead of Messi and Suarez, with Diego Gomez, Sergio Busquets, and Rodondo in midfield. Allen replaced Alba, Freire, Tomas Aviles, and David Ruiz at left back on the back line. Drake Callender took the goal early on.
According to Martino, Messi’s availability from now on will be assessed day by day. His return is anticipated on April 3, when the Mexican club Monterrey will play the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals at home.
Thoughts on Saturday’s match…
MIAMI CAN WIN EVEN WITHOUT MESSI.
Since September of last year, Miami had lost all seven of the games in which Messi was not available. However, on Saturday, his colleagues showed that they are a strong squad when playing alone.
In the next year, with 34 MLS games, the Champions Cup, Leagues Cup, and Copa America, it will be crucial. Martino has said that he would rotate the squad on a regular basis, and so far, he has done an excellent job of it. However, teammates must believe they can compete even without Messi.
Gressel said, “It’s crucial for younger guys who will start playing more minutes because that’s how it’s going to be throughout the summer.” If we want to be a competitive club in this league, we’re going to need to figure out how to produce outcomes. (Saturday) served as an excellent illustration of our ability to achieve that. It offers us some assurance and faith that we can succeed even without him.
“We all know how important Leo (Messi) is for this team and what he represents, but we can’t always rely on him, so we young guys need to step up and take charge like we did against D.C.,” Campana said.
SUAREZ IS JUST AS GOOD AS PAID FOR
By now, most of the detractors who said that the 37-year-old Suarez was too old and crippled by knee pain upon his arrival in January have most likely come around. The Uruguayan has shown that he can do amazing things when he is close to the goal. When he noticed that the D.C. keeper had a nice angle on him for his second goal, he lofted the ball high and barely beyond the keepers reach into the upper left corner.
Martino said, “He came from the Brazilian league, one of the hardest leagues in the world, where he went on to score 17 goals and 10 assists, and that continued until November.” “His confidence and his ability to pull the squad together were undeniable. It goes without saying that those outside our perspective have views, but they are not privy to our daily experiences.
A FAN FAVORITE LEAGUE WIDE IS INTER MIAMI
When asked whether he had ever been a member of a squad that draws such large crowds to away games, Gressel grinned.
He said, “It’s definitely different.” As an away team, it’s convenient to not have the whole crowd cheering you on. When Pedro Santos of the D.C. team was given a red card in the ninetieth minute, I became aware of it. It seemed like half the stadium was applauding. I thought, “Well, that’s interesting.”
Even though they knew Messi was hurt, fans who paid a lot of money to watch him play nonetheless went up to the game on Saturday wearing his apparel. And when Miami scored, they applauded.
Melvin Dulcias, who traveled two and a half hours from Laurel, Delaware, for the game, said, “Of course, I wanted to see Messi, but this is still Messi’s team and I am looking forward to seeing Busquets, Alba, Suarez, and the new player, Federico Redondo.” “It’s exciting to be here and see Inter Miami in person because I became a big fan of them when Messi arrived.”
Along with his 10-year-old son Dylan, Wilmer Martinez of Washington, D.C., also appeared sporting a Messi jersey. While traveling to the stadium, they learned of Messi’s injuries.
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