Inter Miami failed to meet their main objective and one of Lionel Messi‘s goals upon arriving in Major League Soccer, that of qualifying for the MLS Cup playoffs, as they were eliminated after losing to FC Cincinnati on Saturday.
Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, the coach of the team, is one of many that has been singled out for criticism.
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After the defeat, Martino discussed Inter Miami‘s campaign as a whole.
“I honestly expected this season to go exactly the other way round,” he said.
“My expectations were to build a good squad, to shape the football, not to do too much in the Leagues Cup, to compete well in the Open Cup and to be able to qualify for the playoffs. The exact opposite happened.
“If you take into account that out of three possible tournaments, we have won one, it is a very important fact for us.
“The league has 28 teams, while Houston Dynamo won the US Open Cup, we won the Leagues Cup and whoever wins the tournament will be the third winner.
“There are 25 teams that won’t have won. If we look at it from that point of view, we’re happy.
“We have a lot of work to do for what’s to come. It’s true that we have two games left, but now we are working for what is to come.
“I think we as a club have made good decisions in the summer and I think we have to be precise again in the analysis of how we are going to face the season ahead”.
You can now watch Messi in MLS with Apple
Messi’s lack of match fitness
After the loss, the Argentine also spoke about the return of Messi from injury and was quite clear.
“The truth is that I saw him lacking match fitness, even if the injury is fine and he has no problem,” Martino said.
“It is logical because in recent times he has played very little and it could happen that he is lacking rhythm.
“We started to have problems due to injuries and the accumulation of matches.
“In the last month, the team went through the worst moment of the year.”