Inter Miami CF head coach Javier Mascherano said he had changed the match plan after the goalkeeper Oscar Ustari received a red card in the first half of the match against the Charlotte FC at Chase Stadium, preventing Lionel Messi to get out of the bench as a substitute.
“The reality is that in the case of Leo maybe we thought of giving him minutes in the match,” said Mascherano after the match. “But as the game was played with a man less, and taking into account the time he has without playing, we thought that the best thing was to preserve it. We did not want to risk it.”
Ustari was sent in the 35th minute for a fault on Charlotte Wilfried Zaha In an individual situation where Zaha would have had a clear path towards the objective.
Messi was included in the Enter Miami Squad for the first time since February 25, after missing the matches against the Houston Dynamo FC and the FC rider because of the management of the load.
Mascherano clearly indicated last week that Messi had not undergone any injury, but that it was necessary to rest to avoid future complications.
Despite the absence of his star player, Miami managed to triumph without Messi for the third time. The team beat Charlotte 1-0 with a goal from the new signature Tadeo Allende In the 46th minute, before defending well to avoid conceding an equalizer.
“I want to keep resilience. Try to move forward,” said Mascherano. “I think that today, we have shown a lot of team spirit. We have to continue in this way. Continue working together, working hard. We know that we may believe that we are nice and beautiful. We are wrong. We have to keep moving forward.”
Inter Miami, who has not lost a match in all competitions so far this season, is now preparing to go to Jamaica for the second stage of the Concacaf Champions Cup series against the 16 series against the FC rider. Miami leads the 2-0 series after beating rider in the first leg at the Chase Stadium on March 6.
“It’s a long season for us. We have a difficult match on Thursday. It will be difficult, difficult in Jamaica,” added Mascherano. “So we have to be ready. It is not easy. We play every three, four days. We are tired. The team is not too long. We have injuries, but we continue to move forward.
“In football, we have two ways. Excuses or results. And we have to choose the results.”
