2023-09-28 06:57:26
With the absence due to injury of Lionel Messi, Inter Miami lost this Wednesday 2-1 against Houston Dynamo in the US Open Cup finalmissing out on his second title since the arrival of the Argentine star.
Messi, hampered by physical problems for several weeks, did not wear shorts, like the Spanish Jordi Albafor the final of the oldest soccer tournament in the United States, held at its DRV PNK stadium in Fort Lauderdale (outside of Miami).
The American Griffin Dorsey in the 24th minute and the Frenchman Amine Bassi in the 33rd, with a penalty forced by the Colombian Nelson Quiñones, scored the Dynamo’s goals, while the Venezuelan Josef Martínez scored at 90+2.
Gerardo Martino’s pupils They could not recover from Messi’s absencethe figure that has catapulted this franchise from the last place in the MLS to the victory in the Leagues Cup in August and to this final of the US Open Cup, a knockout tournament equivalent to the Spanish Copa del Rey or the English FA Cup that It has been disputed since 1914.
The star from Rosario, who was already absent from Sunday’s North American League (MLS), was ruled out at the last moment and watched the game with his family in a box at grass level.
The mystery of Messi’s physical condition
The physical condition of Messi, 36, has been surrounded by mystery in the last two weeks and ‘Tata’ has attributed his problems to muscle fatigue and discomfort due to the scar from an old injury in his right leg.
«It was not wise for him to play“It’s clear, not even to consider it for a few minutes because we were taking risks,” Martino later explained.
‘Tata’ expressed his belief that Messi will recover in time to join Inter’s attempts to qualify for the MLS playoffs, for which he needs a spectacular comeback in the last five games, the first of which this Saturday against New York City FC.
“Yeah, he will surely play before the league ends“, he claimed. »We will go game by game defining the situation to see when the medical department tells us that he is fit to play without taking risks«.
Inter have not lost a single one of the 12 games in which the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has worn the pink jersey.
Martino recognized Houston’s superiority and attributed his team’s poor performance to losses and physical wear and tear due to his frenetic schedule, with 16 games in the last 10 weeks between the US Open Cup, the MLS and the Leagues Cup, the joint tournament with the Mexican league.
“The reality is that we were going to begin to suffer the consequences of so many games,” he acknowledged. “Now we just have to try in the league, we have a final on Saturday and another on Wednesday with a trip to Chicago included and the circus continues.”
For Houston, led by the Mexican Héctor Herrera and the Panamanian Adalberto Carrasquilla, andIt’s the second US Open Cup title after 2018 and a great joy for a franchise that has not qualified for the playoffs since 2017.
“We knew it was going to be difficult because of the individualities they have,” said veteran Herrera in statements to Telemundo. “All this was a motivation for us and we have taken advantage of it very well.”
The final attracted figures such as Gianni Infantinopresident of FIFA, and Zinedine Zidane, former Real Madrid teammate of David Beckham, one of the owners of Inter.
With morale increased by the losses of their rival, Dynamo started the offensive, exploiting the speed on the left wing of Quiñones.
Busquets did play
Veteran Sergio Busquets, the only one of the trio of former Inter Barcelona players on the pitch, sand was supported by a handful of promising young people against the powerful midfield formed by Herrera and Carrasquilla.
Houston advanced on the scoreboard in a great collective action that took the ball to the right corner of the Miami area, where Griffin Dorsey burst in to throw a shot into the net.
Inter could not stop Houston’s counterattacks and Yedlin knocked down Quiñones when he stood alone against goalkeeper Drake Callender.
Bassi converted the maximum penalty that was shouted from the sidelines at the top of his lungs by NBA star James Harden who, as a Dynamo shareholder since his time as a star of the Houston Rockets, was present afterwards at the presentation of the trophy on the grass.
Josef Martínez, who came on at half-time, revived Miami’s harmless attack and, with two minutes of added time, scored 2-1 with a shot inside the area.
The discount made the public dream of another of the miraculous comebacks of the ‘Messi era’ but the young Argentine Facundo Farías, replacement for ‘La Pulga’, and the Ecuadorian Leonardo Campana did not succeed in the last dangerous arrivals.
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