MLS
Which Inter Miami players are on international duty?
Tata Martino is having to deal with numerous absences in his squad due to the timing of the international break.
Despite the calamitous end to the season for Inter Miami in MLS, in which the club failed to make it to the playoffs and postseason after a series of negative results, plenty of international managers still have an eye fixed firmly on the squad. As a result, Tata Martino is set to lose up to nine players over the international break ahead of two final MLS games for The Herons.
Inter Miami are coming up against Charlotte twice in a curious fixture quirk that will serve as a small sense of revenge after it was made mathematically impossible for them to make the postseason. But it will not be the Miami team we have become used to over recent times and Tata will have to dig around his squad to put out a competitive starting XI.
In a similar vein to what happened in September’s international break, the start of the end for Inter Miami and their playoff hopes, the team will be picked apart by various international managers looking to add to their squads. Argentina takes the award for most players from Inter Miami, as they have called up both Lionel Messi and Facundo Farías from Martino’s side, and the latter could well be in line for a debut in the blue and white of his home nation against Paraguay.
Which Inter Miami players are on international duty?
The other internationals who have been called up are Edison Azcona (Dominican Republic), Benja Cremaschi (USMNT u-23), Josef Martínez (Venezuela), Kamal Miller (Canadá), David Ruíz (Honduras), Robert Taylor (Finland) and Sergii Kryvtsov (Ukraine).
In Miami, it’s fair to say the people don’t have very nice memories of the previous international break. Lionel Messi, who has now been linked heavily with a move to Saudi Arabia, returned from duty with an injury after watching Argentina from the bench in their second game, against Bolivia. This spelled, in hindsight, the beginning of the end of the season for The Herons, who had come down from the high of the Leagues Cup victory with a fit-and-firing Leo in the side.
What was Inter Miami’s record without Messi?
From then on, Messi hardly participated in the team: he struggled with a mystery injury as the team struggled on the pitch, and against Toronto he was forced off after just half and hour. The Messidependencia suffered by Miami was chronic: they won just 2 games out of the next 8, drawing and losing 3, including a painful defeat in the US Open Cup final at the hands of Houston Dynamo.
Unfortunately for Tata Martino, Inter Miami are the team in MLS who have the highest number of internationals currently out on duty with their respective national sides. With a grand total of 9 players jetting off to various locations, the next team on the list is Philadelphia Union, who have 7, followed by Minnesota United and Orlando City with 6 each.
After that come Atlanta United, Chicago Fire and LAFC with 5 from each franchise. While Inter Miami are delighted with the rewards given to their star players for performing to a high level, they are well aware, as has happened before, that the ‘FIFA virus’ is indeed a real-life threat.
