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Chicago (USA), Oct 7 (EFE).- Lionel Messi returned to compete this Saturday with Inter Miami, but the 0-1 defeat against Cincinnati put an end to his team’s playoff options. in an MLS day in which Los Angeles FC beat Austin 4-2 and in which the Los Angeles Galaxy was defeated 2-5 by Minnesota with poker from the Finnish Teemu Pukki.
It was a day of great victories in soccer and the Houston Dynamo, recent champion of the US Open Cup, defeated the modest Colorado Rapids, bottom of the East, 5-1.
The dream of Inter Miami is over. Cincinnati, the best team in the regular season, beat them 1-0 in Fort Lauderdale with a goal from Argentine Álvaro Barreal and the victories of the New York Red Bulls, Montreal and DC United officially left them without playoff options. ‘ to the men of Argentine coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino.
Messi returned to compete after missing four games due to injury. He took the field in the 55th minute, but could not change the history of the game. The world champion scored eleven goals in thirteen games with his new club and was champion of the Leagues Cup, but will not be able to play for the MLS title.
The fight for the postseason in the East is red hot. With Montreal eighth with 41 points, currently classified, pursued by a trio formed by DC United (already eliminated having played all their games), the Chicago Fire and the New York Red Bulls, all with 40.
New York City (38, with one game to play) and Charlotte (36, with two games to play) also remain with options.
In the East, Cincinnati, Orlando City, New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew, Atlanta United and Nashville SC are already mathematically classified.
DC United has already played its 34 games of the season and, despite winning 2-0 against New York City, was mathematically eliminated from the playoff race due to Montreal’s victory over the Portland Timbers.
Thus, the capital club announced that it decided to separate by consensus from coach Wayne Rooney, who had led the club since 2022.
Rooney, former striker for Everton, Manchester United, DC United and Derby County, was in his second experience as a coach after starting precisely at Derby.
In the West there was a celebration of goals, led by Dynamo’s 5-1 victory over Rapids, including a double by Colombian Nelson Quiñones.
LAFC, already qualified for the playoffs, defeated Austin 4-2 with a double and assist from Gabonese Denis Bouanga and a goal from Uruguayan Cristian Olivera.
Argentine Sebastián Driussi’s Austin was officially out of the fight for the playoffs.
The same was true for the Galaxy, defeated 5-2 by Minnesota with a spectacular poker from Pukki.
The Angelenos closed a season to be forgotten, in which they lost Mexican Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández due to a serious cruciate injury.
Miami (USA), Oct 7 (EFE).- Argentine Lionel Messi returned to compete this Saturday after being out since last September 20, when he took the field in the 55th minute of his MLS match. team, Inter Miami, against Cincinnati.
Messi replaced his compatriot Tomás Avilés when Inter Miami, penultimate in the MLS Eastern conference, drew 0-0 against Cincinnati, the best team of the American season.
The Argentine missed four games due to injury, in which his team drew against Orlando City and New York City in MLS, and lost against the Chicago Fire (1-4, also in the league) and against the Houston Dynamo, in the final of the US Open Cup.
Messi scored eleven goals in twelve games with Inter Miami.
Fort Lauderdale (USA), Oct 7 (EFE).- After being left out of the fight for the postseason, Argentine coach Gerardo Martino came forward to analyze the end of Inter Miami’s dream, justifying it by the fact of having lived “the worst time of the year in the last twenty days”.
“At the key moment, when we needed to be complete, we were not,” the Argentine justified, taking into account the number of injuries and recent absences in the most important games.
Martino located the key to the team’s downturn in recent weeks, which coincides precisely with the happiest moment of the year.
“The Leagues Cup wore us out a lot. There are a lot of teams that have many fewer games than us. The process should have been the other way around, having had time to work and face the Cup and the League. We started to get excited about this title too and the September FIFA Date was key,” Martino analyzed.
This sad page does not spoil a positive assessment of the season: “Of three possible titles we have won one. The league has 29 teams, Houston won, we won… and there will be a third. There will be 25 teams that do not win. If we see it this way it is a good season,” said Martino.
Leo Messi returned to the team in the second half, but he did not look good, something logical for ‘Tata’ due to his inactivity: “I saw him lacking in football, the injury is fine, he has no problem. He has played very little and he may be lacking rhythm, that’s why he only played 35 minutes.
Messi’s last game with Inter Miami will be on October 21, which fuels the rumors coming from Barcelona of a possible loan for a few months. Something that awakened Martino’s ironic smile.
“This surprises me, I don’t know anything. If he is going to visit Barcelona on vacation it is likely,” commented the Miami coach.
Inter Miami has a worrying lack of goals, and the absence of Messi did not help: “There is a deficiency, and Leo not playing also takes away a large number of goals from us. Campana was also injured and was good with the goal. There was a key moment against Chicago and in the first half today when we failed in the definition and it could have put us in a different way.”
A few minutes had passed since the elimination but Martino was clear that the plan, with the injured, was already different: “Now we will reduce for what is to come.”
“We will probably continue for a few more weeks after the season ends, the idea is that the players go on vacation physically well so that they can come back and have a good preseason,” revealed the Miami coach.
One of the names that Inter Miami has missed the most is Jordi Alba, who had a return date, but everything changes from today.
“Jordi was intended for Charlotte, but what’s the point of exposing him if the team no longer has anything to play for? He feels very bad for not being able to be with the team at this moment,” Martino confirmed.
Although the regular season objectives have already been achieved, Cincinnati sought victory, the game was marked in red on the calendar. The Colombian Santiago Arias recognized it.
“In the end, even if we are champions, we always try to go out seriously. The plan was to rest during the week to get to this game. We had to show our spirit, demonstrate and we did it quite well,” he said.
Cincinnati’s approach was evident from the first minute and it worked, Lucho Acosta explained.
“The idea was to catch them in transition, on the counterattack, and wait for them a little longer. We were lucky in the first half, in the second it was a back and forth and we had to score. They also had many chances, but we took the win” , he claimed.
For an Argentine, facing Messi is always special and a challenge: “Every time Messi comes in he does things that no one else can do. He is great. When it comes to playing it is difficult for us, we don’t know how to score against him. We defended ourselves.”
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