According to coach Tata Martino's confirmation, Lionel Messi will be in the starting lineup of Inter Miami to welcome Nashville in round 36 of the US Major League Soccer (MLS) taking place tomorrow (August 31).
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| Lionel Messi contributes to making Inter Miami FC famous. (Source: Getty Images/Inter Miami) |
Lionel Messi made his MLS debut for Inter Miami as a substitute as David Beckham's side travelled to New York Red Bulls on August 27. The Argentine superstar continued his fine form with a goal to help his side to a 2-0 win.
Ahead of the match against Nashville at DRV PNK in the 36th round of MLS (6:30 a.m. on August 31, Vietnam time), coach Tata Martino said that Messi will be one of the 11 players on the field with the goal of winning all 3 points, before the players are allowed to leave the club to join the national team according to the FIFA Days schedule in September.
Coach Martino announced: "The match that Messi and Busquets need to rest to recover is the match against New York Red Bulls. Therefore, if there are no problems tomorrow, he will start in the match against Nashville."
Coach Martino wants Messi to start and hopes his team will win their second consecutive MLS title, which will motivate Inter Miami to continue their efforts to complete the goal of reaching the knockout round.
With the positive results Inter Miami have achieved since Messi's arrival, the Argentine strategist stressed the importance of being able to build a style of play and deploy a system to maximize the 36-year-old striker's abilities.
Coach Martino said: "With Messi, it's difficult not to design a team around him to get the best out of him. We always think about how Messi can have a bigger impact on the game and in that direction, we are doing well.
The rest of the players understand the idea of exploiting Leo's abilities and they are constantly working to become a cohesive unit."
Inter Miami is second to last in the Eastern Conference, 11 points behind an MLS Cup playoff spot with 11 games remaining. MLS's format is to split the 29 clubs into two divisions, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. The top nine teams in each division advance to the playoffs.
Before the play-off round, there will be a play-in match, where the 8th-9th ranked teams from each conference will compete for the last ticket to the first round. After that, the teams will play in a knockout format.
The two winners of the Eastern and Western Conferences will advance to the grand final and compete for the championship. All playoff matches are single-game.
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