The MLS (USA) organizing committee has just announced the list of teams participating in the 2024 Leagues Cup, in which Inter Miami Club registered 30 players including Messi, Suarez and a new star joining David Martinez from River Plate (Argentina).
” Inter Miami Club President David Beckham has great ambitions to defend the Leagues Cup title. Therefore, this team has registered a very strong squad with all the best stars, including the striker pair Messi and Suarez, even though they are injured. Besides, there are Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets. New defender David Martinez from River Plate Club (on loan) is also on the list. But Inter Miami is missing two stars, Diego Gomez and Benjamin Cremaschi, who are busy playing for Paraguay and the US team at the 2024 Paris Olympics,” according to the Miami Herald (USA).
Messi and Suarez have been recovering from injuries since the Copa America and the 2-1 win over Chicago Fire FC on July 21. The pair were also absent from the MLS All-Star Game, which saw the MLS All-Stars lose 4-1 to the Liga MX All-Stars (Mexico). The other two Inter Miami players in the match, Jordi Alba and Busquets, only played for about 45 minutes. The reason is that they need to rest to prepare for their Leagues Cup opener against Mexican club Puebla at home at 7am on July 28 (Vietnam time).
To prepare for the opening match of the Leagues Cup group stage, Inter Miami players have returned to training since the middle of this week, but Messi is still absent. The same is true for Suarez. It is likely that this pair of famous players will only return to train ing from the beginning of August and can play for Inter Miami in the second match of the Leagues Cup group stage against Tigres UANL (also from Mexico) at 7am on August 4th away.
“Inter Miami’s opponents in the group stage of this year’s Leagues Cup are all very tough, with Puebla Club currently ranked 13th in the 2024-2025 Liga MX season after 4 rounds. Meanwhile, Tigres UANL is ranked 3rd, with stars such as veteran French striker Andre-Pierre Gignac.
With each group (3 teams) taking the top 2 teams to advance to the round of 32, Inter Miami only needs to win 1 match to secure a place. Therefore, they will need to make an effort right from the first match against Puebla thanks to the home field advantage. Thereby, it will also create conditions for Messi to have more time to recover from his injury, returning to play in the best condition from the knockout round,” the Miami Herald expressed.
The Leagues Cup is also the second transfer window (mid-season) of the 2024 MLS season, taking place from July 18 to August 14.
“Inter Miami, owned and chaired by David Beckham, is actively looking for players to strengthen its squad. The team’s goal from now until the end of the year is to defend its League Cup title and win the MLS Cup as it has long dreamed of.
In the near future, they are likely to win the MLS Eastern Conference championship. In addition, they will win the Supporters’ Shield (for the team with the best performance in the MLS scoring round). Inter Miami is leading the rankings with 53 points after 25 matches, 5 points more than the second-placed team FC Cincinnati, while there are only 9 more rounds to finish,” the Miami Herald emphasized.
