The Herons are facing an extremely difficult task in Mexico, even with Lionel Messi back
Inter Miami will head to Mexico with a mountain to climb, as it gets ready to face Monterrey in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal.
With Lionel Messi sidelined, Monterrey took a huge step toward the semifinal by posting a 2-1 win at Miami in the first leg last week.
The battle between the teams continued after the final whistle, as a post-game altercation took place outside the Monterrey dressing room.
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Miami will need to win the second leg and score at least two goals to advance, a daunting prospect that has been made a little more achievable after Messi made a goalscoring return to the squad over the weekend.
The winner of this tie will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Tigres and the Columbus Crew.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.
Monterrey vs. Inter Miami (Concacaf Champions Cup)
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Rayados assistant Nico Sanchez claimed the Argentina legend wanted to fight him
Monterrey assistant coach Nico Sánchez has apologized following a leaked audio clip in which he said of Lionel Messi: “The dwarf was possessed. He had the face of the devil.”
Sánchez said he shared the audio clip with close friends in the aftermath of last week’s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg between Inter Miami and Monterrey.
Messi didn’t play in the match, which ended in a 2-1 win for Monterrey, but was involved in a reported post-game altercation with referees and Monterrey officials alongside teammates Jordi Alba, Luis Suárez and Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
The Miami players and coach took issue with several of the referee’s decision during the match, and were reportedly also upset with pre-match comments from Monterey head coach Fernando Ortiz suggesting Miami would receive preferential treatment from officials due to the celebrity status of some of its players.
“Messi wanted to fight me,” Sánchez said in the audio, which was leaked by Fox Sports Mexico. “I don’t think he wanted to hit me because he would have done it. He had me a centimeter away.
“The dwarf was possessed, he had the face of the devil. He put his fist next to my face and says: ‘Who do you think you are?’
“And Tata Martino, what a poor dummy, I had him in front of me telling me: ‘Fool, you going to cry? Fool you going to cry?’ What a dummy! All those videos, they probably erased them all because it leaves them looking bad. What they did was really serious. They want to dirty the pitch.”
In a statement on social media, Sánchez apologized for his comments, though he would only name Martino, not Messi, during his apology.
“I am present with this video to talk about this audio that went viral today. I could hide with a text or let the club act for me, but I prefer to choose this means to show my face and see the words come out of my mouth,” Sánchez said.
“I understand that when the audio is made public, many people feel offended or hurt. Since I do not know Inter coach, Gerardo Martino, and I referred to him in a disrespectful manner, I apologize. I am as Argentine as all of them and I will always defend my club. I’m here to show my face and take responsibility,” Sánchez said.
Miami and Monterrey will meet on Wednesday in Mexico for the second leg. While Messi sat out the first game, he is set to participate in the return leg after he made his return to MLS play this weekend. The Argentine scored a goal after coming on at halftime of his side’s 2-2 draw with the Colorado Rapids.
The Argentina legend appears ready to play his first game in a month
Lionel Messi has been named to Inter Miami’s matchday squad for Saturday’s match against the Colorado Rapids, with the Argentine legend potentially set to play his first game in a month.
Messi has been sidelined for six matches now with a hamstring issue, most recently missing out as Inter Miami fell 2-1 to Monterrey in a Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.
Following that match, head coach Tata Martino said that Miami was evaluating Messi on a “game-to-game” basis.
Ahead of next week’s return leg in Mexico, the 36-year-old has taken his place on Miami’s 20-man matchday roster for a MLS clash with Colorado at Chase Stadium.
With nagging injuries plaguing Messi and a jam-packed schedule for Miami, the 36-year-old has played in just five of the Herons’ 10 competitive matches in 2024. This year, Miami has not lost a game that Messi has appeared in, but has just one win without him.
The club’s update on Messi’s status noted that the superstar is not listed at all on an updated injury report for the weekend. That’s welcome news, as Miami confirmed that seven players will miss out against the Rapids.
That includes winger Robert Taylor, who exited early against Monterrey on Wednesday, as well as highly-rated young midfielder Federico Redondo.
However, Messi isn’t the lone player to come off the injury report. U.S. men’s national team prospect Benjamin Cremaschi is also on the gameday roster after coming through a 25-minute appearance for Miami’s MLS Next Pro side on Tuesday. Cremaschi, 19, has yet to appear for Miami this season after suffering a sports hernia in January.
For all of Miami’s experience, a youthful mistake may have sealed its Champions Cup fate
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — For all the talk of Inter Miami’s cadre of experienced superstars, a moment of youthful indiscretion may have just cost the club a shot at the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Despite the absence of Lionel Messi (hamstring), Miami spent an hour frustrating Liga MX powerhouse Monterrey, nosing out in front in the process, only to suffer a 2-1 first-leg loss in the continental competition’s quarterfinal round.
Tomás Avilés pushed the Herons out in front, only for David Ruiz’s second-half red card — the result of two bookings in a four-minute span — to set the stage for Los Rayados to claim victory.
Before Miami could sort itself out after going down a man, Maxi Meza equalized, and Jorge Rodríguez’s dramatic late winner gave Monterrey a massive edge going into Wednesday’s second leg.
Despite being at home, Tata Martino set a normally attack-minded Miami up to absorb pressure, calling to mind the Argentine coach’s successful counter-attacking run to MLS Cup glory in 2018 with Atlanta United.
The Herons’ defensive discipline and patience caught Monterrey, who seemed prepared for a more open affair, off guard. Manager Fernando Ortiz urged his fullbacks forward, often leaving just two center backs and a defensive midfielder to handle duties at the other end.
Even with Miami’s end flooded with blue-and-white striped shirts, the host’s caution was rewarded just before halftime, and by one of its least-likely scorers.
With the Herons largely deprived of the ball throughout the game’s early stages, a 19th-minute corner felt primarily like a chance to take a breath and come to grips with the task at hand.
However, Julian Gressel — Miami’s outstanding player on the night by some distance — had other ideas, driving a corner into space vacated by Nicolás Friere. 19-year-old center back Tomás Avilés, who started the match with just one professional goal to his name, belied his track record with a sharp finish from close range.
Virtually out of the blue, Miami had spotted its path out of trouble.
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) April 4, 2024
A frustrated Ortiz pulled captain Hector Moreno at halftime, and changed his formation before the hour mark, giving U.S. men’s national team striker Brandon Vazquez a strike partner in Germán Berterame at the expense of Mexico midfielder Luis Romo.
However, it turned out the help Monterrey needed would come from Miami. Young midfielder David Ruiz had been booked in the 61st minute, and four minutes later inexplicably flicked an arm out after a collision with Meza. The contact was slight, but referee Walter López had little choice but to book Ruiz again, leaving the Honduran to trudge off the Chase Stadium pitch.
Martino quickly pivoted to protecting a slender lead, bringing center back Ryan Sailor on and leaving Luis Suárez up top by his lonesome. It may have worked if Miami could defend a corner in the moments after that change, but Monterrey finally found a way to strike back.
Sergio Canales picked out Vazquez, who was denied by a brilliant Drake Callender save, but Meza had no trouble finishing the rebound.
Miami turned a hopeful look towards VAR, with Victor Guzmán lurking in an offside position. Though López was summoned to the touchline monitor, a crucial Rayados away goal stood.
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) April 4, 2024
The red card wasn’t simply a numerical problem for Miami, but an emotional one. Monterrey smelled blood, while the Herons seemed overly focused on getting a call out of López that would somehow balance things out.
Against any Liga MX side, that’s a dangerous game. Against Monterrey, the title contenders who have more Concacaf Champions Cup trophies in the last 13 years than MLS has as a league? It’s courting disaster.
Miami expending its remaining focus on two penalty shouts and some modest scuffles off the ball, and Monterrey’s moment to twist the knife came just before stoppage time began.
A long spell of pressure ended with Avilés trying to play his way out of trouble rather than simply lumping the ball into the stands. That risky approach saw a pass run away from the exhausted Diego Gómez, who then simply didn’t have the legs to close Rodríguez.
The Rayados midfielder did the rest, curling home a jaw-dropper from 22 yards.
For a stadium featuring several thousand Monterrey fans — a few dozen of whom could be seen arriving on a double-decker tour bus decked out with banners and flags — it was pure jubilation. The sight may have been new to Miami, but for anyone familiar with MLS’s long and largely frustrating history in Concacaf competition, it was a rerun.
The defeat leaves Miami in need of one of the most rare things for an MLS club: a win in Mexico. In 75 prior Concacaf Champions Cup or Champions League attempts, teams from MLS have claimed just five victories, losing 56 times in the process.
If Miami can’t push that meager total up to six, its ambitions to lean on Messi and become a regional power may well go up in smoke.
Vazquez tells Pro Soccer Wire about his early success with Monterrey, and his USMNT prospects
Whether he breaks through for the U.S. men’s national team or not, Brandon Vazquez seems to know things are going well for him.
His club, Monterrey, is very much in the running for Liga MX glory again, and Vazquez is playing a major role after finding goals and starts immediately following a $7.5 million winter transfer from FC Cincinnati.
Speaking to Pro Soccer Wire one day before a Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg at Inter Miami, Vazquez projects the kind of calm confidence that comes when you’re scoring on the regular for one of the continent’s best teams.
The San Diego native is even ready to get the awkward questions of the USMNT — which won the Concacaf Nations League last month without him — out of the way early.
“I’m doing all I can, you know?” reasoned Vazquez. “There’s nothing more that I could be doing that could make my chances better, I guess? There’s some stuff that’s out of my control, that I can’t let bother me.
“I just have to keep the same mindset I’ve been having, stay motivated, and keep the same work ethic and routine and when my time is called upon, I’ll be ready for it.”
In March, Vazquez told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he hadn’t heard directly from Gregg Berhalter, and that he “didn’t know” where he stood in the USMNT coach’s eyes. That situation has changed, with the 25-year-old confirming that Berhalter gave him a call just before the Nations League roster was announced.
“The day before that roster came out, Gregg Berhalter had called me,” Vazquez said, anticipating the question before it even arrived. “[He] basically told me that they were really happy with my performances, that I have been a killer in the box, that I’ve been doing great, have been killing it down here.
“He had called me to let me know and give me a heads up that I wasn’t going to be on the roster, which I respect quite a lot.”
Per Vazquez, Berhalter’s message was “to keep it up, because they’ve been watching all my games, and to not lose motivation because of it … it gives me a bit of confidence.”
Discussing the U.S. setback barely dampens Vazquez’s mood, because things are going quite well with Monterrey.
Even as he and Germán Berterame have sometimes been rotated as Los Rayados‘ starting No. 9, Vazquez has been an instant hit in Mexico. In 820 minutes across Liga MX and Concacaf Champions Cup play, Vazquez has put up eight goals, making him Monterrey’s leading scorer in a season that could end in a double.
Even with Monterrey suffering just one loss this season — Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat against Chivas snapped a 16-match unbeaten start to the campaign — and his own red-hot form in front of goal, Vazquez says he feels like he’s still trying to get used to his new surroundings.
(Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)
“It’s a little bit of a complicated one, because I still feel like I am adjusting,” Vazquez admitted, balancing the evidence of his and the team’s strong run with things he knows can improve. “Getting to know your teammates and their habits, that takes a while to adjust to, but my teammates have found me in the box. The runs that I’ve made, they are starting to get those pretty well.
“I try to make clear for the teammates around me what I like, where I like the ball, what runs I’m usually making, and they’ve been doing a great job at putting the ball there for me. All I’ve had to do is just hit the back of the net.”
Much has been made of the differences between American and Mexican soccer, whether that be training structure, tactics, or granular details like injury prevention and nutrition. For Vazquez, the job is to make “the same dish, with a different recipe.”
“Obviously with different coaches, you have different training sessions, different drills, different warm-ups,” explained Vazquez. “Everything is a bit different, but at the same time, a bit the same.”
Amid the big professional change, Vazquez is also a new father, with his wife Jessie giving birth to a son, Luca, in February. Vazquez can’t help but break into a grin at the thought, but in the short term, he’s on his own in Monterrey.
“My family and my newborn is still in Cincinnati,” said Vazquez. “We’re waiting to get some vaccines and my baby’s passport for them to travel down.”
Vazquez has made it up to visit twice, taking advantage of the Concacaf Champions Cup bracket putting Monterrey on a collision course with FC Cincinnati, as well as the international window, to make the trek.
Vazquez admitted that it’s been tough to be separated, but joked that there’s at least a silver lining: He’s getting to sleep.
“I have been missing my family for the past couple months, but from what I’ve heard, I would have no sleep if my newborn was down there.”
Vazquez talks Inter Miami clash
In the meantime, Vazquez has his work, which on Wednesday means suiting up against Inter Miami. The striker admits that Monterrey isn’t immune to the potential once-in-a-lifetime nature of a competitive game against the stars on the Herons’ roster.
“I think everybody has it in the back of their mind,” conceded Vazquez. “There’s so much hype around this team, there’s so much limelight on this team.
“We’re not only playing against a good team, but everything that goes around it — all the attention, all the media that’s around it. You just have to stay focused on the job and be able to perform on the field when you step out onto the pitch.
“I think we have we have an amazing group here. So I have no doubt that we can get the job done.”
Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
Monterrey tends to do just that in the Champions Cup, winning the tournament five times in the last 13 years. Vazquez called the prospect of adding a continental trophy to his resumé “incredible,” and expressed belief in Los Rayados‘ chances of making it six trophies out of 14.
“There’s a lot of history in this club with this tournament, and a lot of trophies won here,” said Vazquez. “We know that we’re capable of doing it. We have the players to do it, and we’ve done it plenty of times before. So, we have an expectation, a high demand on ourselves to be able to get to the final, be able to win this trophy.
“We know we can do it. We’d be the only people in our way. If we just do what we know how to do, the quality of our players will just take over.”
It’s a recurring theme for Vazquez, whose attitude towards his very unusual occupation often comes across like any grounded person working in a field they enjoy.
“You just have to focus on the step in front of you,” concluded Vazquez. “We just have to take it one game at a time, one step at a time, and just focus on getting the job done 90 minutes at a time.”
It’s the biggest test yet for the star-studded Herons
Inter Miami will host Monterrey on Wednesday in the first leg of a high-profile Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal.
The Herons received a bye to the last 16 of the Champions Cup, and began their tournament with a 5-3 aggregate win against Nashville SC.
The second leg of that series on March 13 is also the last time Lionel Messi played in a game, with the Miami superstar sustaining a hamstring injury in that match.
After Messi missed five games for club and country, he returned to training for Miami on Tuesday. But head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino wouldn’t commit to the Argentine playing against Monterrey, instead saying he will be a game-time decision.
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Monterrey enters this tie after easily defeating Guatemalan side Comunicaciones in the first knockout round, before a comfortable 3-1 aggregate win over FC Cincinnati in the round of 16.
Rayados are led in attack by U.S. national team forward Brandon Vazquez, who has three goals in four Champions Cup appearances this campaign.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.
Inter Miami vs. Monterrey (Concacaf Champions Cup)
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The Herons have never faced an opponent like this before. Can they prove their mettle?
MLS has never had a team like Inter Miami, and the Herons have never had a challenge like what lies in wait over the next week.
On Wednesday, Chase Stadium will play host to the first leg of Miami’s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal against mighty Monterrey, the Liga MX powerhouse that has won five continental trophies in the last 15 years.
The Herons’ brief, strange history includes an unprecedented punishment for salary cap violations, a protracted (but ultimately successful) stadium push, a grand total of two MLS playoff games (both 3-0 losses) and of course the landmark achievement that is bringing Lionel Messi to MLS.
The club is the first in MLS history to have its shirt be Adidas’ top-selling jersey of any kind (that’s the pink Messi No. 10 jersey seen just about anywhere you can find soccer fans). Even if you took Messi out of the equation, the presence of Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba would make the Herons a unique phenomenon in MLS.
It’s been a roller coaster ride in south Florida, but a thrilling run to the 2023 Leagues Cup title represents the only proof that the sporting side of the endeavor might actually work.
“The culture of wanting to win, to be competitive in all competitions, to play against very good teams as an equal, that is all getting built with our history,” head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino told reporters on Tuesday.
“We’re starting in our first steps. Last year, we managed to win a competition. This year, we’ve grown, and the level of what we’re going to compete against [has too]. The level of the competition that we’re going to go up against in Monterrey is the most important [challenge] that we have this year up to this time.
Martino concluded with an astute summation of the task ahead of his side: “Basically it’s this: being a reliable team week after week, changing into a very important team not just for the moment but for a long time.”
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
During that Leagues Cup run, Miami announced itself as not just a collective of famous players, but as a seriously formidable team. With Messi making his debut, the Herons suddenly sprang to life. In less than four weeks, Miami reeled off victories (whether in regulation play or via shootout) over Cruz Azul, Atlanta United, Orlando City, FC Dallas, Charlotte FC, the Philadelphia Union, and Nashville SC.
However, through the way the bracket developed, Cruz Azul ended up being the only Mexican club between Miami and that first-ever trophy. With all due respect to La Maquina, that group-stage clash is currently not the same thing as a two-legged Concacaf Champions Cup contest with Monterrey.
Around the time of the Leagues Cup, Cruz Azul was in the process of finishing 16th out of 18 teams in the Mexican Apertura season. Monterrey, meanwhile, finished in second over the same period, and at the time of writing is tied atop the Clausura standings with 28 points. We’re talking about a team that has won five of the last 13 editions of Concacaf’s premier club competition.
To define the difference between the sides with one metric, soccer transfer tracker Transfermarkt values Miami’s full squad at roughly $91 million, or around $25 million more than any other MLS club. Monterrey, meanwhile, breaks the nine-digit barrier, with its players’ collective transfer valuation clocking in at $102 million.
When you consider how top-heavy Miami is — Messi alone accounts for $31.2 million of Miami’s total — the challenge comes into focus. Monterrey may not have a single global star on the level of Messi or Suárez, but Martino can’t call on anything close to the depth Fernando Ortiz has at his disposal. Monterrey’s squad isn’t just deeper than Miami’s; it’s younger, and thus more able to physically compete in multiple competitions.
On top of that, Messi is a gametime decision. The iconic forward didn’t play over the weekend against New York City FC, and the will he/won’t he dynamic has become familiar for the Herons.
On one hand, it’s good that the team has learned to win without its biggest star. On the other, it’s hard to believe this group can find its highest level without the best player to ever kick a ball.
For his part, Suárez — even after winning so many things at some of the world’s biggest clubs — is hungry to prove that the Miami project can succeed.
“These are the games that you like to play. The team has to show what we’re here for,” the Uruguay star told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s a key game tomorrow. It’s not enough to just have the name of the players, you have to show it on the field.
“Our attitude is going to be to show, on the field over 180 minutes, that we [can be] the best on the field. We can’t look at anything outside. What we do on the field is what counts, and against a rival like Monterrey — who is very powerful, who has quality players — is a beautiful thing for us.”
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
In some ways, Miami’s aspirations are MLS’s. The league has long desired global respect, but has for some time now been stuck behind Liga MX (or at least, Mexico’s biggest clubs) in Concacaf. MLS clubs have earned the right to claim supremacy in the region just four times since the league began play in 1996. Until that starts to change on a regular basis, MLS’s desire for a place as one of the world’s best leagues remains out of reach.
Miami, like MLS as a whole would love to have prominence across the world for something other than being where Messi happens to play A good start to this MLS season, or winning a newfangled competition like the Leagues Cup last year, is where that starts.
This quarterfinal clash against Concacaf’s most consistently successful soccer concern is the chance to remove any doubt that Miami can be a repository for aging superstars, and win when it counts.
The 36-year-old has missed Miami’s past three games with a hamstring injury
Inter Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino has said Lionel Messi will be a game-time decision for Wednesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg against Monterrey.
Messi has been sidelined for five matches now with a hamstring issue, missing three MLS games with Inter Miami and also sitting out both of Argentina’s friendlies over the international break.
The 36-year-old was back on the training pitch on Tuesday but at a pre-game press conference, Martino would not commit to the Argentine playing in the match at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
“Tomorrow we’ll figure it out,” the coach said. “Today he trained. We still have 24 hours.”
“Leo has had an injury and this has had to be managed with time. We have a really important game tomorrow but we have to remember it’s the beginning of April. What we shouldn’t do is put our players’ physical conditions at risk.
“We’ll determine what’s best for Leo like any other player, and from there we’ll make the correct decision.”
Martino added that defender Nicolás Freire would also be a game-time decision and another defender, Serhiy Kryvtsov, would miss the match.
Miami has one win, one loss and one draw in the three matches Messi has missed thus far, most recently drawing New York City FC 1-1 at Chase Stadium on Saturday.
The Herons are in the midst of a crowded set of fixtures, as they’ll host Colorado on Saturday in MLS play before traveling to Mexico for the second leg against Monterrey next Wednesday.
The 36-year-old will miss his fifth straight match on Saturday
Lionel Messi has been ruled out of Inter Miami’s match against New York City FC on Saturday, but the club is hopeful he’ll be fit for Wednesday’s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg against Monterrey.
Messi has been sidelined for four matches now with a hamstring issue, missing two MLS games with Inter Miami and also sitting out both of Argentina’s friendlies over the international break.
After suffering the injury on March 14, the Argentina superstar won’t be ready in time for Saturday’s MLS match at Chase Stadium.
“Leo is working with the physios,” assistant coach Javeier Morales told reporters on Friday. “He is ruled out for tomorrow, he will not be available because we will be trying to do our best so that he can play at home next Wednesday against Monterrey.”
With Messi sidelined, Miami defeated D.C. United on March 16 in the nation’s capital, before falling to a heavy 4-0 defeat in a match at the New York Red Bulls a week later.
Miami currently sits second in the Eastern Conference table with a record of 3W-1D-2L.
The matchup with Monterrey represents a huge test for Miami, which has only faced a Liga MX team once since Messi’s arrival. That came in Messi’s debut, which saw him score a last-second free kick to defeat Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup in July.
Monterrey will be a formidable opponent for the Herons, as Los Rayados currently top the Liga MX table.
Neymar recently said he’d love to play alongside Lionel Messi once again
Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham posted a photo alongside Brazil superstar Neymar, but attempted to tamp down any speculation by saying that the meeting was “only for dinner.”
Given Miami’s recent track record of signing copious amounts of former Barcelona stars, Neymar would appear to fit the bill as an ideal addition for the Herons — roster rules notwithstanding.
Neymar added some fuel to the fire earlier this month when he told ESPN Argentina that he would love to once again play alongside Inter Miami star Lionel Messi.
“Hopefully we can play together again,” Neymar said. “Leo is a great person, everyone knows him in football and I think he is very happy and if he is happy, I am too.”
Neymar, 32, only signed with Saudi power Al Hilal last summer, and is currently recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in October.
Beckham also got some face time in with Neymar, posting a photo on Instagram with the forward and his wife Victoria. Knowing that the picture would likely lead to even more speculation, Beckham added the caption: “Welcome to Miami my friend (only for dinner).”
