Inter Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino confirmed Friday that Jordi Alba will miss Saturday’s match against Nashville SC at Chase Stadium, but expects Lionel Messi to remain in the starting lineup for the weeks leading up to the Copa América.
“Jordi suffered a muscle injury, he will miss this next match and the next one. After that we will start to evaluate match by match,” Martino told a press conference.
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“There is nothing special at the moment with Messi. We will play weekend games over the next few weeks, we only have one midweek game against Orlando City. We will evaluate those moments once the schedule starts to compress, but I don’t think we have to analyze a special plan (for Messi) because he feels good He works well on a daily basis, and at the pace we are going. we will stay in the same direction.
Martino added that Inter Miami’s elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup means rotation is less necessary.
“No (rotations). When the team plays a competition, as we will starting this week, and plays every six to seven days, there is no motivation to rotate unless we run a risk or that there is a specific situation If there is “There is no specific situation, then we do not have a rotation plan at the moment.”
Inter Miami is in first place in the Eastern Conference standings with 15 points in nine games. The team started the season with various injuries, with as many as seven players unavailable for selection at any given time, including Messi, Benjamin Cremaschi and Robert Taylor, among others.
Martino said fans can expect to see a full squad, Alba and Federico Redondo aside, through to the Copa América and the Olympics, before speaking out against the MLS salary cap.
“Now, with the injuries to Jordi and Redondo, we have a month left until all the players are available. But then the Copa América and the Olympics will arrive and we will have absences.
“MLS has a peculiarity when it comes to salary caps. When December comes, we will have been playing with a full squad for about four months and we will already be forced to rebuild the team for next season. This league makes you think about the present but also the short and medium term It is very likely that in December, we will talk about players who have left and players who will return.
“That’s the way it is in this league. Teams can’t be kept with the same core for six, seven or eight years because salaries change and contracts are changed in a way that forces you to sell.”
The Copa América will take place from June 20 to July 14 in the United States.
