In a development that will shock precisely no one, the focus on Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup final has centered on Lionel Messi’s status and what Inter Miami has planned.
If you ask anyone at Miami’s opponent, the Houston Dynamo, they’ll tell you that’s just fine.
“That’s okay,” Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen told reporters on Tuesday, not long after his side stepped off a flight to Florida. “We’re used to that. We kind of live in that space, with the Houston Dynamo, at least for the short time that I’ve been here. We don’t make a lot of headlines.”
Olsen’s opinion was bolstered by the nature of the press conference itself, which opened immediately with a question about Messi.
“Well, there seems to be a lot of talk going on about that,” deadpanned Olsen. “Of course, we know the impact he has on the field. But we also understand this is a very good team with and without him, so we certainly prepared up until this point with him in.
“If the reports are true, we have a little bit of time to also prepare for them without him. So, not really our issue, it’s theirs. We’ll continue just prepping the way we have been.”
Messi’s status is seemingly a complete toss-up. What Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino referred to as an issue with old scar tissue was enough to push Messi out of last Wednesday’s rout of Toronto FC, and keep him on the sidelines for Saturday’s draw against Orlando City.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Martino said that Messi had trained in part, and that a decision wouldn’t be made until “the last minute.”
Olsen — who lifted the Open Cup with a D.C. United side in 2013 that was possibly the biggest underdog the tournament has seen in this century — was quick to point out that he still sees the Messi-free lineup the Herons sent out against Orlando as a massive threat.
“This team without the big three is still a very good MLS team,” said Olsen, referring to Messi, Jordi Alba (who is a major doubt), and Sergio Busquets. “We go through the exercise and [say] ‘Okay, he’s out,’ it’s like, ‘well, he’s in.’ ‘He’s out?’ ‘Wow, this guy’s in.'”
Olsen went on to name-check several Miami players, including attacking midfielder Facundo Farías, winger Robert Taylor, and strikers Leo Campana and Josef Martínez.
“So, their ability to create this team in a short amount of time, with this amount of depth? It’s pretty remarkable,” concluded Olsen. “Whoever is going to be out there, it’s going to be a very tough test for us.”
Olsen: ‘We’re the underdog’
Houston, despite having just one loss in the club’s last eight competitive matches, has decided to embrace the fact that the spotlight is almost entirely on the more glamorous home side.
“I’m not sure, this year, if we’re really sitting around and being honest with each other, [that] we thought we’d be in a final,” conceded Olsen. “But you know, things have clicked a little quicker in some areas than we thought.”
“There’s been some good stories and a little hype on us lately, but we haven’t done anything,” added Olsen. “We’ve gotten some points, but we’re not in the playoffs yet, and we haven’t won anything.”
“We’re the underdog. I don’t think a lot of people are picking us. And that’s I think, again, a space where we’ve lived, and rallied behind in some ways this year. Hopefully we can lean on that tomorrow, play free, play brave, and compete for a championship.”
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