2023-07-25 01:00:10
After a surprising debut against Cruz Azul, Lionel Messi can start as Inter Miami’s starter in this Tuesday’s game (25), at home, against Atlanta United, at 8:30 pm (Brasília time), at the DRV PNK stadium, where he hopes to guarantee his classification for the knockout of the new Leagues Cup.
Where to watch: the match will be broadcast on MLS Pass on Apple TV.
With a spectacular goal by Messi in the last play of the match, Inter beat Cruz Azul by 2-1 and lead Group South 3 of the tournament, which brings together 47 teams from the MLS (United States and Canada) and the Mexican league for a month.
A draw at home against Atlanta, led by Argentine promise Thiago Almada, is enough for Miami to secure itself among the top two in the bracket and advance to the Round of 16, which begins on August 2nd.
After revolutionizing Inter coming off the bench against Cruz Azul, Messi and his Spanish partner Sergio Busquets could start this time in the starting line-up, coach Gerardo Martino warned on Monday.
“It’s very likely that both Leo and Busi will play longer, even though we’ve changed the dynamic and maybe they’ll do it from the start,” said ‘El Tata’. “We all know that when Leo starts we talk about 90 minutes, but it all depends on how they are going to feel.”
Newly installed in Miami, the Leagues Cup offers Messi an early opportunity to challenge for his first club title outside of European football.
The competition also guarantees three places in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, via access to the Club World Cup, and looks like a more promising option than the MLS, where Inter is currently bottom, has 11 games without a win and has a long way to go to qualify for the playoffs.
All these calculations, in any case, took a back seat on Friday before the exciting debut of Messi who, after entering the field in the 54th minute, was consecrated with a memorable goal from a direct free kick in stoppage time (90+4′) that went around the world and put ‘soccer’ on the front pages of the main American media vehicles.
Messi’s arrival, with the blessing of local stars like LeBron James and Serena Williams, who watched from the front row, should be the long-awaited take-off of football before the World Cup that the United States will organize in 2026 with Mexico and Canada.
Sights set on tomorrow ???? pic.twitter.com/GC4uFLp3qc
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) July 24, 2023
reunion game
After Cruz Azul, an opponent who had numerous chances to win the opening game, Inter now faces Atlanta United in a duel with numerous reunions.
The highlight of this franchise is one of the great jewels of MLS, the Argentine Thiago Almada, who in the 2022 Qatar Cup became the first active player in the league to win a World Cup.
At the age of 22, the talented star was signed last season from Velez Sarsfield for US$ 16 million (R$ 75.7 million at current prices), in the most expensive transfer in MLS history, and this season stands out with 8 goals and 10 assists in 21 games.
“It will be a game in which the two teams will go in search of the goal, proposing a game. Atlanta is working very well (…) And they have an exceptional player like Thiago (Almada), who is the one who deserves the most attention”, said Martino, one of the Inter members who played in Atlanta.
After his dismissal from the Argentina national team in 2016, Martino worked Atlanta United’s first two seasons in the MLS and led the team to the 2018 title. In addition, he was named the league’s Coach of the Year.
Under the command of ‘Tata’, Venezuelan striker Josef Martínez, now Messi’s strike partner in Miami, was the top scorer and MLS MVP with Atlanta’s shirt.
To replace Martino after his departure in 2019, United have added other household names to their bench, including Dutchman Frank de Boer and Argentinean Gabriel Heinze, who have failed to win a playoff tie in the past three years.
In the current championship, under the command of Mexican Gonzalo Pineda, Atlanta is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 35 points in 24 rounds.
DATASHEET
INTER MIAMI x ATLANTA UNITED
Data: 25/07/2023
Local: DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (USA)
Time: 20:30 (from Brasilia)
INTER MIAMI: Drake Callender – DeAndre Yedlin, Sergii Kryvtsov, Kamal Miller, Noah Allen – Sergio Busquets, Dixon Arroyo, David Ruiz – Robert Taylor, Lionel Messi and Josef Martínez.
Technician: Gerard Martino.
ATLANTA UNITED: Brad Guzan – Brooks Lennon, Juan Jose Purata, Luis Abram, Ronald Hernandez, Caleb Wiley – James Sosa, Amar Sejdić, Thiago Almada – Tyler Wolff and Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Technician: Gonzalo Pineda.
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