Inter Miami boss Gerardo “Tata” Martino said Friday that a request from the New York Red Bulls to postpone their matchup on Saturday, due to both teams having several players away on international duty, was rejected by MLS.
Unlike the majority of top leagues, MLS continues to play through FIFA international windows, leaving a growing number of teams without some of their top players. For Saturday’s clash between the Red Bulls and Miami in New Jersey, each team will be missing six players who have been called up by their national teams.
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“We received a request from Red Bulls to postpone this match and we agreed, but the federation didn’t approve,” Martino told reporters on Friday.
“But I think it’s something that they are going to have to consider, because, for example, yesterday Venezuela‘s two central midfielders both play in the MLS and that gives a huge advantage when you don’t have those players, so it’s likely that the league will have to keep on looking into this.”
Among the players absent due to international duty will be Miami midfielder Diego Gómez (Paraguay) and goalkeeper Drake Callender (U.S. men’s national team), while the Red Bulls will be missing their captain and marquee offseason signing Emil Forsberg (Sweden) and defender John Tolkin (U.S. under-23).
Miami will also be without eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi, who would have missed the game after being called up by Argentina but has since suffered a hamstring injury that has ruled him out for both club and country.
“It is something that we have known for a long time,” Martino said of his team’s absences. “In fact, due to injuries, neither Messi nor [Leonardo] Campana have left.
“We knew that we were not going to have for this week several players who are with their national teams such as Diego [Gomez], Federico [Redondo], Drake [Callender]. We can’t count on them but we can still put together a competitive team.”
Messi was substituted early in the second half of Miami’s 3-1 win over Nashville in the Concacaf Champions Cup on March 13 and then sat out Saturday’s league victory at D.C. United.
Martino has previously said that the goal is to get Messi fit for Miami’s Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal matchups with Mexico’s Monterrey (April 3 and April 10) and he suggested Friday that the Argentina captain remains on track in his recovery.
“Getting better, yeah,” Martino said of Messi. “A few days ago he was back out on the pitch. He’s getting better every day, so we’ll have to wait and see how he goes … We will have to wait until at least next week.”