Will Jordi Alba star for Inter Miami against Montreal?

Inter Miami seems to have finally found the right formula in MLS this season. After four consecutive wins, the Herons top the Western Conference table on 24 points - three points ahead of Cincinnati who have a game in hand. This week, Tata Martino’s team have been preparing for this weekend’s trip to Montreal, who won the reverse fixture in Miami back in March, so another tough game is on the cards.

On Friday, the team completed its preparation at the training complex in Fort Lauderdale before leaving for Canada. Prior to boarding, Martino previewed the game in the company of the press.

Jordi Alba back training but won’t be risked

The main news from the coach’s press conference concerned full-back Jordi Alba, who has been left out of the squad for the trip. The Spanish full-back has missed the team’s last three games (Nashville, New England Revolution and New York City Red Bulls) with a hamstring injury.

However, while Alba won;t be travelling to Canada, Martino is hopeful that the defender will be back for the following game, against Orlando City next Wednesday. Also staying at home is Diego Gómez, who picked up a sprained ankle in the first half of the 3-1 win against Nasville. Completing the casualty list are Federico Redondo, who is out with a tear to the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) in his left knee, Facundo Farías and Ian Fray (both ACL) and Robbie Robinson (calf)

“Jordi is training normally, but we are going to take one more game so as not to take risks. Ian Fray is training normally, but he is not match fit and needs to build up minutes of playing; Fede and Diego still have a while left on the sidelines,” Martino explained.

The Inter Miami that Tata Martino wants was seen against NY Red Bulls

After giving an update on the fitness of his squad, the coach spoke about the great partnership that Messi, Suárez and Matías Rojas have forged in attack, and highlighted the Paraguayan’s rapid adaptation to the team.

“Already in training it was clear that this was a partnership that could work, normally in any team when there are players who play well, who have good understanding, this happens naturally. As I said, we are taking things step by step with Matías. He played 45 minutes the other day and is adapting more to the needs of the team because he offers different options. We have used him in a central role and out wide on the left where he has probably played very little. We are trying to accommodate him and hoping to have the entire squad full fit and available to play soon,” the coach added.

Tata acknowledged that the second half of last week’s 6-2 win against NY Red Bulls was the kind of performance he would like to see from his team in every game. However, he feels that there are still a number of areas that need work - especially the deficiencies that the team showed in the first half of that match. Those frailties prevent the team from approaching games calmly, even when they are dominating their rivals.

“What we did is interesting because we also managed all aspects of the game. When we needed to have possession, we did it and did it well; when we scored a goal, we followed that up with a high press and also did that well. It’s very satisfying to see your team control every aspect of the game against a very intense side like the Red Bulls, even for just 45 minutes. But we also have to talk about what happened in the first half. By sorting out what we didn’t do well in the first half, we can improve as a team”, he concluded.