Mascherano faces first major test coaching Inter Miami
The Herons play woeful Toronto FC tonight and LAFC in a must-win Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal match on Wednesday. How will Mascherano manage his roster?
UPDATE: Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez are in Inter Miami’s starting lineup for tonight’s game against Toronto.
The next four days could be critical to Javier Mascherano’s Inter Miami success. The Herons play a Major League Soccer regular-season match against Toronto FC tonight and face elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup against LAFC on Wednesday.
Javier Mascherano is in his first year as Inter Miami CF’s manager. Photo: Inter Miami
WHAT: Toronto FC at Inter Miami FC
WHEN: 7 p.m. ET Sunday, April 6
WHERE: Chase Stadium, Fort Lauderdale
TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
RADIO: Inter Miami: ESPN 106.3 FM (English), Deportes Radio 760 AM (Spanish)
RADIO: Toronto FC: TSN 1050 (English)
The Cup match must be the team’s focus — a second early exit from North America’s most prestigious club competition isn’t in the Herons’ ambitious script — but a loss to the woeful, winless Reds tonight would be an embarrassment.
Inter Miami believes it significantly improved its roster in the offseason, building depth to navigate just such scheduling challenges. Now Mascherano must show he can effectively shuffle the lineup to best advantage.
“We have an idea what we’re going to do, but it hasn’t even been 48 hours since the game against Los Angeles, so we have to see, as always, how each player recovers,” Mascherano told reporters Friday morning, as reported by Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald. “We have two games so close together so we have to figure out how we can put two competitive teams out there Sunday and Wednesday.”
“We have to figure out how we can put two competitive teams out there Sunday and Wednesday.”
— Javier Mascherano, Inter Miami coach”
LAFC beat Inter Miami 1-0 this past Wednesday in the first leg of the home-and-home Champions Cup quarterfinal (the loss was Mascherano’s first at Inter Miami, ending a 14-match unbeaten streak in all competitions).
The team that scores the most total goals in the two games wins, but Concacaf uses away goals as a tie-breaker. Inter Miami MUST win by two goals at home Wednesday to ensure it advances to the semifinals. If the Herons win 1-0, neither team will have scored an away goal; the teams will play extra-time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout to decide who advances.
If Miami wins 2-0, they win the tie 2-1. But if Miami wins 2-1, the aggregate score is tied but LAFC will have scored an away goal to win the tiebreaker.
So, Mascherano will need his most trusted 11 on the pitch against LAFC. But will he rest those players and send the reserves against Toronto?
Not necessarily.
“The last thing we should do is throw the Sunday game. We must play a good game to leave us with a good feeling heading into Wednesday.”
— Mascherano
“Obviously, Wednesday is very important for us, but we can’t let our guards down for MLS,” Mascherano said. “I think it’s always important after a loss to quickly turn things around and start to have a positive momentum. That’s what we’re looking for on Sunday. So, the last thing we should do is throw the Sunday game. We must play a good game to leave us with a good feeling heading into Wednesday.”
Toronto (0-4-2, 2 points) is in 14th place, one of three MLS teams with only two points. Inter Miami (4-0-1, 13 points) is in second place behind only the Columbus Crew (4-0-3, 15 points), which has played two more matches.