As Inter Miami CF prepares for the Eastern Conference semifinal against FC Cincinnati on Sunday, head coach Javier Mascherano is facing a decision he did not have to consider in their last match of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez was not available due to a red card suspension for the third match of Inter Miami’s first round playoff series against Nashville SC. Without him, Lionel Messi and the Herons waltzed to a 4-0 win to book their place in the conference semifinal. Messi created all four goals, providing two goals and two assists as Miami put together its best performance of the first round series.
After Saturday’s training session, Mascherano shot down the suggestion that Inter Miami might be better off without Suárez against FC Cincinnati.
“We have played 55 games this season, which we have won, I think, 31,” Mascherano told reporters. “And the majority, we have done so with Luis Suárez on the field. To be pointing out one player or another is not my style, not my way of working and it would be disrespectful to the career of Suárez and Luis as a player.”
To his final point, Suárez’s history speaks for itself. The former Liverpool and Barcelona striker has scored more than 500 goals in his club career and another 69 for Uruguay.
Detractors point to his aging legs and lack of intensity on the defensive side of the ball as factors that hold the team back when he plays alongside Messi. At age 38, goalscoring remains Suárez’s top quality and one that makes him hard to replace the lineup. He tallied 10 goals and 10 assists in 28 regular season matches this season.
Mascherano, a former teammate of Suárez at Barcelona, refused to let Messi’s solo show against Nashville influence his decision on how to approach FC Cincinnati.
“The team needs everyone to keep advancing,” Mascherano explained. “I will keep taking decisions according to what I think the game needs. There are no two games alike; Cincinnati is not Nashville. They play differently.”
Inter Miami is on the road for the match against FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium. Both teams finished with an identical 65 points in the regular season, but FCC had the tiebreaker by virtue of total wins. The conference semifinal is a single-elimination match, which will go to extra time and penalty kicks to decide a winner, if necessary.
The match can be streamed live on Apple TV, with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.