{"id":200643,"date":"2026-03-21T18:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/200643\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T18:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T18:16:19","slug":"looking-to-bounce-back-injury-news-predicted-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/200643\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking to Bounce Back\u2014Injury News, Predicted Lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inter Miami stated in the moments after winning the 2025 MLS Cup that the Concacaf Champions Cup was their primary goal for 2026. Now, they\u2019ve fallen short after crashing out in the round of 16 against Nashville SC, forcing them to re-prioritize MLS play. <\/p>\n

The defending MLS Cup champions come off a 1\u20131 draw against Nashville in midweek<\/a>, which saw Lionel Messi score the 900th goal of his illustrious career<\/a>. Last weekend, a heavily-rotated Herons side picked up a single point in a scoreless match against Charlotte FC<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Heading to Yankee Stadium to face New York City FC<\/a>, the Herons look to find their scoring touch once again.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s Motivation in MLS Takes Spotlight\"Mateo<\/p>\n

Mateo Silvetti has become a consistent starter for Inter Miami in 2026. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

After falling short in the hunt for continental glory, Inter Miami no longer have the chance to secure the one major trophy the club has yet to win since adding Messi in the summer of 2023. Instead, questions zone in on the motivation of the group as they chase a second Supporters\u2019 Shield title in three years, having won with a record-setting points total (74) in 2024. Outside of MLS play, only the Leagues Cup\u2014which Miami won in 2023\u2014remains within reach this season.<\/p>\n

While many players, including starting goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair and top striker option Germ\u00e1n Berterame, were not around for those wins, the motivation may drop among others.<\/p>\n

Starting with NYCFC on Sunday, it falls on manager Javier Mascherano, as well as Messi and the team\u2019s senior leadership, to ensure that the team\u2019s drive is rekindled in MLS play in order to avoid further disappointment in 2026. Part of that key step will be sorting out communication on the backline, after an avoidable error led to their Concacaf elimination, as well as getting Berterame into goalscoring form, given the Designated Player\u2019s seven-game goal drought across all competitions. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll the disappointment from being knocked out has to fuel us\u2014give us the energy to go out there, play the game the way we\u2019re supposed to,\u201d Mascherano said Saturday.<\/p>\n

With the first international break of the season approaching soon, getting a win this weekend is critical to setting the tone for the next few weeks and second month of the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u26a0\ufe0f Key absentees, doubts: Sergio Reguil\u00f3n, Maxi Falc\u00f3n\ud83d\udd22 Predicted formation:\u00a04-2-3-1Inter Miami Predicted Lineup vs. New York City FC (4-2-3-1)\"Inter<\/p>\n

A glimpse at how Inter Miami could line up this weekend. | | FotMob<\/p>\n

GK: Dayne St. Clair\u2014The Canada international<\/a> called for a foul against Nashville after colliding with his own defenders midweek. After Sunday, he heads to Toronto to face Tunisia and Iceland in international friendlies.<\/p>\n

RB: Facundo Mura\u2014With the smaller field at Yankee Stadium, expect Mura to maintain his position over the more pace-oriented Ian Fray at right back.<\/p>\n

CB: Gonzalo Luj\u00e1n\u2014With regular center back Maxi Falc\u00f3n unavailable, Luj\u00e1n comes in as the next man up, having logged 93 minutes across three matches in MLS this season. <\/p>\n

CB: Micael\u2014The Brazilian defender will be asked to lead the central defensive pairing with Falc\u00f3n out of the squad.<\/p>\n

LB: Noah Allen\u2014After shifting to center back in Miami\u2019s heavily-rotated effort against Charlotte FC, expect the Greek youth international to return to his natural left back position against NYCFC this weekend.<\/p>\n

DM: Rodrigo De Paul\u2014The Argentine did not train with the Herons on Saturday, according to reporters, but is expected to once again be relied upon in defensive midfield against the Pigeons.<\/p>\n

DM: Yannick Bright\u2014Outside of Messi, Bright has been the best player for Inter Miami this season, with his ball progression and calmness shining beyond his defensive midfield partner, Rodrigo De Paul, among others. <\/p>\n

RW: Tadeo Allende\u2014After thriving with space to run in the 2025 MLS Cup playoffs, Allende has struggled to link up with a pure central striker like Berterame, but will hope to do so even on NYCFC\u2019s smaller pitch.<\/p>\n

AM: Lionel Messi\u2014The 2022 World Cup winner was supposed to be preparing for Finalissima against Spain in the upcoming international break, but will now join Argentina for a friendly against FIFA\u2019s 115th-ranked team, Mauritania, after Sunday\u2019s match.<\/p>\n

LW: Mateo Silvetti\u2014At just 20 years old, Mateo Silvetti has carved himself out a consistent starting role with Inter Miami and will look to build on his one goal and one assist in MLS play so far.<\/p>\n

ST: Germ\u00e1n Berterame\u2014New signings often take a little bit of time to settle in, but Germ\u00e1n Berterame has now gone 467 minutes across all competitions without a goal. After Luis Su\u00e1rez started last week, would an eighth game to his goal drought force first-choice roster changes for Mascherano?<\/p>\n

READ THE LATEST MLS NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND GOSSIP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inter Miami stated in the moments after winning the 2025 MLS Cup that the Concacaf Champions Cup was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-200643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}