Messi, Suarez, Alba sit out Inter Miami vs. Dallas game amid big week
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, and Oscar Ustari were not on the Inter Miami game roster for the Sunday match against FC Dallas, and Sergio Busquets is on the bench.
The absence of the quartet of veteran starters, and Busquets taking a break, was expected as Miami is coming off a 2-0 loss on the road against the Vancouver Whitecaps late Thursday night in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal. The second and decisive leg of the series looms Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale.
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano indicated on Friday that there would be roster changes for the Dallas game as he and the staff balance league play and the Champions Cup. Messi, Suarez, Alba and Ustari are being rested because of the high-stakes game ahead.
The loss to Vancouver left Miami in a precarious position and on the verge of elimination.
Champions Cup uses aggregate scoring, and the tiebreaker is away goals, so Inter Miami must score at least two goals and concede none on Wednesday to force extra time for a shot at the championship game. The team was in a similar situation in the quarterfinals against Los Angeles FC and rallied from down 2-0 with a pair of Messi goals to win the series 3-2.
This time, a spot in the final is on the line. The winner of the Champions Cup will earn $5 million and qualify for the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and 2029 FIFA Club World Cup. With such a high stakes game on the horizon, and such little time to recover from the Vancouver trip, coach Javier Mascherano said there will be changes in the starting lineup for the Dallas game.
He did not rest players between the two legs of the LAFC series, using his regular starters for the league game against Toronto, but this time, it will be different.
'One thing is to play every three days, which the majority of our player are accustomed to, but it's another thing to play less than 72 hours after the previous game,' Mascherano said Saturday morning before training. 'We finished Thursday's game past midnight Miami time, and we are playing Sunday at 5 p.m. It was a flight back of more than six hours.'
The Miami starting lineup on Sunday included: Drake Callender (captain), Ian Fray, Gonzalo Lujan, Maxi Falcon, David Martinez, Fafa Picault, Toto Aviles, Yannick Bright, Benja Cremaschi, Leo Afonso and Allen Obando.
It is the first MLS start for Obando, the 18-year-old Ecuadorean forward who joined the team last month.
On the bench for Miami are Rocco Rios Novo, Ryan Sailor, Marcelo Weigandt, Noah Allen, Fede Redondo, Busquets, Telasco Segovia, Santi Morales and Tadeo Allende.
The game kicks off at 5 p.m. and can be watched on Apple TV MLS Season Pass.
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