Inter Miami suffered the next setback without Lionel Messi. In the 1:4 in Chicago, two Swiss players played big.
It looks like the MLS play-offs will have to do without Lionel Messi. Inter Miami lost 4-1 at Chicago Fire on Thursday night (CEST), further reducing their chances of extending their season. Messi missed the clear away defeat for the fourth time in a row due to muscular problems. The world champion, who scored eleven times in twelve appearances, had not even made the trip.
While Inter are still unbeaten with Messi, the Beckham club have won only one of six games since his signing when he was not involved. But Messi’s teammates weren’t the only ones missing him. “A lot of people were here to see Messi. And who doesn’t want that?” said Fire head coach Frank Klopas. “But they saw a good performance from our team. “
One Swiss duo in particular turned up the heat at Soldier Field. Former Bayern pro Xherdan Shaqiri, now 31, scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season to make it 1-0 (49th) and 4-1 (73rd), framing a double strike (62-65) from Maren Haile-Selassie, seven years his junior, who joined Chicago from Lugano FC in January. In the meantime, Josef Martinez had equalised with a penalty kick (53rd).
Will Messi & Co. not even be helped by the new play-off format?
“Of course we miss the best player in the world,” admitted Miami coach Gerardo Martino, whose eleven are now condemned to win. With three games remaining – once against Cincinnati and twice against Charlotte – Inter need to make up five points on Montreal, ninth in the Eastern Conference, with three clubs still placed in between, including Chicago.
The top seven teams in each of the Eastern and Western Conferences qualify for the play-offs, while the eighth and ninth-placed teams play two more participants in wild-card games. The league only decided on the latter in February, certainly not without thinking of Inter and Messi. Now, however, the new figurehead is threatening to miss even this back door.
