Martino didn’t feel like he needed to apologize — but he did so anyway
Inter Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino didn’t feel like he needed to apologize for his stars’ absence at Vancouver, but he did so anyway.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Sergio Busquets all didn’t make the trip to for Inter Miami’s game against the Whitecaps on Saturday, disappointing fans who thought they’d get a glimpse of the star trio.
A record crowd of 51,035 showed up at BC Place, as the Herons still managed a 2-1 road victory through goals from Robert Taylor and Leo Campana.
Prior to the game, the Whitecaps issued an extraordinary statement confirming the star trio’s absence themselves, rather than taking the traditional path of waiting for Inter Miami to announce the decision.
“Unfortunately, we have no control over who plays for our opponent, and it was important for us to communicate to our fans as soon as possible,“ Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster said in the statement.
Martino said he understood the disappointment of fans — many of whom paid exorbitant ticket prices on the secondary market — but emphasized that his priority was protecting his players.
“Obviously [the win] is very important for us because of the absences we had,” Martino said in his post-game press conference.
“The expectation that people have. I really don’t think I have to apologize, but in some ways we are very sorry for not being able to travel with our stars. There is a question, we have or have come without our great players. Leo, Luis, Busi, Diego Gómez and still we have competed very well.”
Inter Miami is back in action on Wednesday when it faces Atlanta United at home. All of the team’s stars are expected to be available.
The Canadian club said the statement was designed to inform fans as soon as possible
Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Sergio Busquets all won’t make the trip to Vancouver for Inter Miami’s game against the Whitecaps on Saturday.
Instead of Inter Miami confirming the news themselves, the announcement was actually made on Thursday by the Whitecaps.
It was an unusual move, which Vancouver CEO Axel Schuster said was designed to get the message out to fans as soon as possible.
“While we haven’t received an official update on the availability of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Sergio Busquets for this weekend, we understand they will not make this trip. Unfortunately, we have no control over who plays for our opponent, and it was important for us to communicate to our fans as soon as possible,“ Schuster said in a club statement.
“We always want our best players going up against our opponent’s best players, and facing players of the highest pedigree was especially exciting for our team. We know that there will also be a lot of disappointed fans.
“We remain committed to making this a special experience for everyone. It is still going to be an incredible atmosphere and celebration of soccer for our city. We have amazing fans, we have a good team, and Saturday’s match is a very important home game for us.”
The Whitecaps are expecting a club record MLS-era crowd on Saturday at BC Place, with many of those fans likely paying exorbitant fees for their tickets on the secondary market.
In an effort at damage control, the Whitecaps announced all in-stadium food and beverages for the match will be 50 percent off, while children 18 and under will be provided one free kids meal combo.
That will likely be cold comfort to fans, who seemed to have hit the jackpot when the 2024 schedule was released. Due to an unbalanced schedule, Vancouver is one of just three Western Conference cities that will host Inter Miami.
Messi played in the other two games — at the LA Galaxy on February 25 and at Sporting Kansas City on April 13 — but Vancouver has missed out on seeing the Argentine legend along with Suárez and Busquets.
None of the trio have a known injury. Instead, Miami seems to be sparing the veterans from one of the longest road trips in MLS, with Vancouver and Miami nearly 3,500 miles apart.
Inter Miami also has a short turnaround for a game that is more significant: Wednesday’s home match against conference rival Atlanta United.
Everyone knew Lionel Messi would be the best player in MLS upon arrival, but we’re now getting a look at just how extreme the situation is.
Messi produced a staggering five (5) assists in one half Saturday night, helping Inter Miami to a 6-2 demolition of the New York Red Bulls.
Luis Suárez and new addition Matías Rojas were the beneficiaries, with the Uruguayan star notching a hat trick. Rojas would strike twice, while Messi would chip in a goal for good measure, because why not?
It didn’t seem like the kind of night where this would happen. The Red Bulls actually walked off at halftime up 1-0 on a Dante Vanzeir goal, and had to be feeling alright about how things were going.
Messi had a different idea in mind.
Rojas would enter at halftime, and the Paraguayan played a major part in flipping this game on its head. Messi’s first assist would come just three minutes after play restarted, but in truth it was mostly about the thunderbolt Rojas unleashed from long range. This time, all Messi had to do was play a square pass.
Two minutes later, the Red Bulls seemed to begin to collapse. Rojas’ pressure created a bad giveaway, and Suárez helped the ball on for Messi to finish with a first-time strike.
In alarming news for the rest of MLS, Rojas — making just his second appearance since being signed on April 23 — seemed to have an instant rapport with Messi. The duo would link up again, playing increasingly intricate one-twos until Messi defied geometry and our common understanding of space to send Rojas through for a 62nd minute goal.
Things just got worse for RBNY. Benjamin Cremaschi’s chip found Messi in behind the defense in the 69th minute, and two Red Bulls spent an eternity trying to just contain the Argentine icon.
Good news: they did avoid being beaten on the dribble. It’s just that Messi wedged a pass through a miniscule gap, finding Suárez on the doorstep to make it 4-1.
Next up? Another give-and-go sequence, this time with Messi waltzing away from the midfield in possession before combining with Suárez for a point-blank finish.
There was still more time, and with the Red Bulls seemingly unable to track Messi coming out of midfield, more goals were inevitable.
Messi seemed to consider the prospect of dribbling several people for a moment, but ultimately played a slide-rule pass that found Suárez, and the other former Barcelona great on the field evaded goalkeeper Carlos Coronel before shooting home from an acute angle.
On another night, Suárez’s hat trick and the big scoreline would have garnered all the attention. It’s just that Messi did something no one else has ever done, with his five assists and six goal involvements both setting new MLS records.
Entering the night, only 10 players in MLS had five assists on the season. For Messi, five assists in this game required just a 33-minute span, during which he also scored.
That leaves Messi atop the Golden Boot leaderboard with 10, and also way out in front on the assist chart with 12. Carlos Vela once had 49 goal involvements in a single season, setting the MLS record with 34 goals in the process.
Messi’s 22 combined goals and assists, gathered in just in eight appearances, have him on pace to get to around 61 if he plays the rest of Miami’s 22 remaining matches.
Lionel Messi will reportedly be wearing an aqua kit soon.
Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, also known as Inter Miami CF, is set to roll out an aqua uniform this summer inspired by the Miami Dolphins.
There have been rumblings of a third kit for Inter Miami for at least a couple weeks. On Wednesday, the Miami Herald confirmed that adidas will be shipping them to distributors next month and they will go on sale in July.
Inter Miami, which was founded in 2018, typically wears pink kits at home and black ones on the road.
The 2024 Major League Soccer season is already underway and Inter Miami currently sits at the top of the table with six wins and 21 points through 11 matches. The regular season is scheduled to run until mid-October.
The club has seen a surge in popularity in the last year following the acquisition of Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi in July 2023. He has since been joined by Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez in the 2024 season.
The Inter Miami stars couldn’t inspire the Heat to victory in Game 4
Some of Miami’s biggest sports stars were out on Monday night, but those of the soccer-playing variety were unable to inspire the basketball-playing ones to victory.
Inter Miami stars Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were all in the house for Game 4 of the Miami Heat’s first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
But the visitors would end up cruising to a 102-88 win at the Kaseya Center, taking a 3-1 edge in the best-of-seven series.
It was some measure of revenge for the Boston area, after Inter Miami took down the New England Revolution 4-1 over the weekend. Messi scored a brace in the win, taking him to nine goals in just seven MLS games this season.
The Heat made sure to highlight the presence of the ex-Barcelona stars on their social media, showing all four players arriving through the VIP entrance.
Messi donned a Canadian tuxedo for the event, while Suárez opted for the archetypical attire for any superfan: a personalized jersey.
Messi also posted on his personal account after the game, showing his three sons decked out in the same personalized jersey as Suárez — with the No. 10 instead of the No. 9 of course.
The Heat will have to win Game 5 in Boston on Wednesday night to give the Inter Miami stars another chance to attend a home game this season. Should the Heat win, Game 6 would be back in Miami on Friday night.
The Inter Miami stars both appear set to play in front of a huge Gillette Stadium crowd on Saturday
The artificial turf at Gillette Stadium will not prevent Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez from playing in Inter Miami’s match at the New England Revolution, according to head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
A crowd of more than 60,000 is expected in Foxborough on Saturday, as Boston-area fans get their chance to see Inter Miami’s stars in action.
Martino’s words at Friday’s press conference will be reassuring to those fans, who appear set to see most of Inter Miami’s big names — save for the injured Jordi Alba — take on the Revs in a MLS matchup.
“The players are all available, and those who are healthy will travel. We will see the formation to face the New England Revolution a little later,” Martino said. “We previously played on artificial turf at Charlotte last year, and had no problem.”
After signing with Miami last year, Messi shrugged off any concerns that he would skip matches on turf.
“I did all of my youth career on artificial turf,” Messi told reporters last August. “It’s been a long time since I played on turf, but I don’t have a problem with it.”
Messi played the full match on Charlotte FC’s turf field in October, as the Herons fell 1-0 at Bank of America Stadium.
Despite his well-documented knee issues, Suárez also looks set to play on Saturday after beginning his MLS career with six goals in nine games.
New signing Matías Rojas will be available to make his Inter Miami debut, but Alba will continue to sit as he recovers from a hamstring strain.
“Matías Rojas forms part of the roster and will travel with the team to face New England Revolution. But Jordi Alba will not travel. I said last week that he wouldn’t be available against the Revolution, but starting next week we will monitor him game by game,” Martino said.
New England Revolution vs. Inter Miami (MLS)
When: Saturday, April 27
Where: Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA)
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Channel/streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (WATCH LIVE)
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The Uruguayan took out his frustration on the defender’s arm, somehow getting away with it
Luis Suárez was getting frustrated in Wednesday’s game at Monterrey, so he decided to take it out on Víctor Guzmán’s arm.
The Inter Miami star was caught on camera performing a MMA move on the Monterrey defender, and somehow escaped without punishment. Almost as miraculously, Guzmán also escaped without injury.
Miami travelled to Monterrey for the second leg of a Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal, looking to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg.
Even with Lionel Messi back from injury, things weren’t looking great for the Herons near the end of the first half. Brandon Vazquez scored the opener for Monterrey 31 minutes in, taking advantage of a Drake Callender error to make it 3-1 on aggregate.
With just minutes left in the half, Suárez took out his frustration on the unwitting Guzmán. With the ball long gone, the Uruguayan grabbed the defender’s arm and twisted him to the ground — a maneuver that wouldn’t be out of place in the octagon.
Even with plenty of quality replays available, there was no VAR review and the game continued.
Monterrey went on to win 3-1 on the night, and 5-2 on aggregate, advancing to the semifinal where it will face the Columbus Crew.
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.
Lionel Messi may be getting the band back together at Inter Miami, but one of his former running mates is counting himself out.
After Messi’s bombshell confirmation this week that he will play for Inter Miami, various reports have linked three of his former Barcelona teammates with moves to join him in south Florida: Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez.
The first two may still join Inter Miami but Suárez, currently with Brazilian side Grêmio, has ruled himself out of a move to MLS.
“This is false, it is impossible,” Suarez told Uruguayan newspaper El Observador about talk of him moving to Inter Miami. “I am very happy at Grêmio and I have a contract until 2024.”
Suárez joined the Porto Alegre team in December 2022, signing a two-year contract after leaving Nacional in his native Uruguay.
The 36-year-old has continued to find the net with regularity in Brazil, scoring 11 goals for Grêmio through 24 appearances.
Luis Suarez was scoreboard watching like everyone else during Uruguay’s final World Cup group stage match against Ghana.
And what he saw led to the same heartbreaking reaction from him and other fans from his country.
South Korea scored an incredible goal in penalty time to defeat Portugal to send it to the knockout stages … and Uruguay was sent home.
Suarez was caught on camera seeing the goal (see below) and doing what has become known as the surrender cobra gesture with his hands on his head in disbelief.
Truly heartbreaking. And you’ve got to see the reaction from South Korea’s players when the final whistle blew:
