The Inter Miami coach confesses why Lionel Messi did not play in the US Open Cup final

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami failed to become champions of the US Open Cup after they lost in the final against the Houston Dynamo. The Argentine player failed to reach the final of the US Open Cup after he failed to overcome his physical discomfort. The absence of Messi, combined with Jordi Alba who was also injured, failed to complete the team for this team.

After the disappointing result, Gerardo Martino referred to the search to fight all the fronts that are presented to him, but at the same time he asked to remember how the team was before his assumption as coach in the middle of this year, especially the arrival of Lionel Messi and the key matches he made them win. “We are not talking about a coaching staff that started in January, we are all just finishing assimilating the change.

Of course, one of the most recurring questions that was asked to Gerardo Martino in the press conference after the match was focused on the absence of the Argentine captain. Regarding this, the Inter Miami coach explained: “It was not wise for him to play, it is clear. Not even to consider it for a few minutes because we were at risk. Yes, he will surely play before the League ends. Starting with the preview of today's game, we will go game by game defining the situation at the moment when the medical department informs us that he is fit to play."

What else did the Inter Miami coach say?

“What happened in the second half is not a product of the changes, but of the character of the team that loses a final at home and wants to turn it around. But we were also exposed to a counterattack with two good passes, as happened to us in the first half, they made us the third. One leaves with the idea that what happened to us in the second half could have given us a tie, but the reality is that we didn't deserve it.