Well, it finally happened. Lionel Messi appeared as a human being for the first time since arriving at Inter Miami, as his team drew 0-0 against Nashville on Wednesday. Although Miami was undefeated through 10 games with Messi in charge, this was the first game since his arrival where he had no goal contributions and the team remained scoreless.
Those 10 games came in a 41-day span. like the athlete Jeff Reuter recently noticedAugust was already Messi’s busiest month in more than two years ahead of Wednesday’s game against Nashville, with the Argentine notching 600 minutes since the start of the month. He has now finished August with 690 minutes played, and the mileage is starting to show. Messi’s legs were heavy and he did some solid touches against Nashville, which is understandable for a 36-year-old who has played as much as he has in the heat and humidity of South Florida.
Another important factor was Nashville’s familiarity with the Inter Miami system. Wednesday’s regular season game was a rematch of the League Cup Final played on August 19. in that night, Nashville was effective in disrupting Inter Miami’s possession And limit the space that Messi seeks to occupy.
Nashville deployed a similar game plan on Wednesday, but with a starting lineup that was far different from the one that Coach Gary Smith deployed the previous meeting. MLS MVP candidate Hani Mokhtar was rested as was defensive midfielder Anibal Godoy. Captain and starting center back Walker Zimmerman did not join the squad due to injury. Nashville intentionally conceded the ball and showed an impressive willingness to prioritize their defensive positioning.
“It was a great display without the ball,” Smith said after the game.
Inter Miami manager Tata Martino told reporters after that match that Smith’s changes in the lineup became a factor in the final result. Martino commented that while Nashville left Mukhtar on the bench, and with striker Sam Sturridge unavailable, the team instead included players whose main responsibility was defense, rather than attack.
With Miami under pressure to win as many games as possible, a tie felt like a loss, an unusual sensation for a fresh-faced Inter Miami team.
“I understand everyone’s frustration. We feel it too,” Martino said. “It was a perfect night to keep moving up (in the standings).” But we made some progress with one point. These things can happen. We have to move on.
Martino referred to Miami’s winning streak and League Cup title, saying the club had become “spoiled” by its recent success, which included a league victory over Red Bull New York last Saturday. That may be true. It’s getting hard to imagine Inter Miami losing a score. Messi was decisive in every game, even if his overall performance wasn’t always impressive.
But on Wednesday, Messi’s first touch failed him on several occasions. Five of his seven shots that night were blocked by Nashville defenders. And after scoring two direct free kicks against Cruz Azul and FC Dallas respectively, his two attempts were dealt from similar positions against Nashville.
The first was saved by Nashville goalkeeper Elliot Panico. The other bounced off the head of slender Nashville fullback Lucas McNaughton. It simply wasn’t Messi’s night, and so far, Inter Miami have been relying heavily on the Argentine’s ability to dominate matches.
“Lionel Messi can make an opportunity out of nothing,” Smith told reporters. “The guys did a great job tonight blocking his lanes and (dealing with) this amazing, purposeful offense that Miami did.”
As Martino pointed out, Nashville was a lot more defensive this second meeting. The team sat deeper than usual, allowing Messi to set up camp in Nashville’s defensive third, as shown in the graphic below. Only two of Messi’s 93 total touches have come from inside the Miami half.
This situation also forced Miami to divide Nashville into a limited area, and this remains one of the most difficult proposals in football, in any league in the world.
In the League Cup final, Nashville pressed high and tried to force Messi to play with his back to the goal. The following graphic shows how Messi used almost the entire field to find the ball. He had 58 touches in the final, well short of that total on Wednesday, and another data point that proves just how well Nashville’s defense is at DRV Pink’s Inter Miami. It was by design.
“You won’t get a lot of opportunities here,” Smith said. “Miami do a great job with the ball, they control the ball and without the ball you can’t do much. And they grow up in the world of what they do without the ball. They plan, they read the press, they make life difficult.”
From a tactical perspective, Inter Miami has grown rapidly under Martino. The hole he’s trying to dig out is as deep as they can get at this point in the season – Miami finished 10 points clear of last place in the playoffs in the East with 10 games remaining in the league, along with the United States. Open Cup final against Houston on September 27th.
“We arrived two months ago and worked 50 or 52 days,” Martino said. “We haven’t had a full week (of training) yet. There’s only been minimal time for (tactical) work. We’ve been playing matches every three or four days because of the League Cup and the US Open Cup. It’s not too long for a new coach and new players. Who arrived in the middle of the season What we need to do is use the videos to correct mistakes, rest the players and integrate our ideas and rhythm into the matches.
The FIFA World Cup qualifying window will be very draining on the first team, as Martino could be without up to six starting players for their match on 9 September at home to Sporting Kansas City. Martino avoided making any excuses after the draw with Nashville.
“I mean it when I say that, because that’s the way things are, we’ll play with what we have left,” Martino said. “I think we’ll have 12 field players. We’ll have to fill almost the entire bench using players from our reserve team. We knew that was going to happen.”
“I still think it’s something to celebrate with the fact that so many of our players will be joining their national teams,” Martino continued. “As the league continues to grow, and I’m speaking not only on behalf of Inter Miami, but also on behalf of other teams, those matters will certainly be considered in terms of the FIFA window. The wisest course of action would be to align with what’s happening in leagues around the world.
The hill is too steep for Inter Miami. The victory over Nashville was necessary to take some pressure off the guys. A trip to Los Angeles to take on MLS Cup favorites LAFC is next on September 3. LAFC won’t stop the bus the way Nashville did, but other teams that Inter Miami face moving forward may adopt this approach to frustrate Messi.
If Miami does not take home three points, their playoff hopes will take a hit even before the international window complicates the end of their season. The remaining schedule, including the World Cup qualifiers, will add more pressure on Messi’s body and many miles in the air.
If you thought the MLS would be a breeze for Messi, think again.
(Photo: Peter Jonellet/Aikon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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