Less than one month ago, it was all sunshine and roses for Inter Miami. They had won their first trophy and were on a four-game unbeaten streak in MLS league play with three wins and a keen eye on the playoffs.
Then, disaster struck in the form of a Lionel Messi injury. The hamstring injury forced him to miss Miami’s 5-2 loss to Atlanta United and leave Inter’s September 20 game against Toronto FC after 37 minutes. He hasn’t played since.
WATCH: Chicago Fire 4-1 Inter Miami
On Wednesday night, Miami visited Chicago to take on the Fire, who are also battling for a playoff spot. Chicago was ruthless, winning 4-1 and keeping Inter Miami in the second-to-last spot in the conference.
The first half was sluggish, with both teams struggling to create much of anything. The pace quickly picked up once the second half got underway, with Xherdan Shaqiri and Josef Martinez trading goals.
Xherdan Shaqiri’s first goal vs. Inter Miami
But after that, Chicago began to pull away with ease. A pair of Maren Haile-Selassie strikes put Miami on the backfoot, leaving even more spaces for the attackers.
Maren Haile-Selassie scores first of two goals vs. Inter Miami
Those goals were followed by another Shaqiri dagger, which put an end to any comeback hopes Miami had at the time.
Xherdan Shaqiri scores second goal vs. Inter Miami
No Messi, No Party
In games where Messi has missed since his arrival, Miami has now won once, drawn twice and lost three times. One of those losses was the US Open Cup final. The other two were MLS games where they suffered 5-2 and 4-1 defeats. Simply put, they need Messi.
It seems as if Messi is close to returning, at least for a bench spell against FC Cincinnati on Saturday. With only three games left in the regular season, Miami will need to win all of them and pray for help to even have a chance.