Slow and quickly beaten
A dejected-looking Lionel Messi walked off the field in defeat on Wednesday after his Inter Miami team were exposed in emphatic style by a young Vancouver Whitecaps.The 3-1 loss in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final meant a 5-1 aggregate defeat to the Canadian side and no-one who saw the games would question whether the scoreline was a reasonable reflection of the games.Advertisement A Miami group developed around Messi and a variety
of aging previous
team-mates from his Barcelona prime time– Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba-backed up generally by journeymen players from South America, showed their age versus a Whitecaps team that was faster and sharper in all areas.Last year Miami won the Advocates Shield– for the best routine season record in MLS, with a record-breaking project but the effort to squeeze another year out of the exhausting legs of the Barca old kids has actually shown to be a mistake.The 38-year-old Suarez, who like Messi scored 20 objectives in MLS last year, now looks completely invested, his legs no longer able to get him in the positions his experience informs him he requires to be.Busquets is a sorry shadow of the exceptional midfielder he once was and Alba, while still an attacking danger, appears to have actually been given permission to overlook his defensive duties.Advertisement And while Messi
is still well efficient in supplying highlight reel minutes, he is 37 and certainly required ready and hungry, children ready to run all the time for him and not the good business of his likewise aged friends.Coach Javier Mascherano, another old Barca team-mate who also played with Messi in the Argentine national group, amplified the problems by leaving younger, homegrown choices on the bench and the Whitecaps gleefully accepted the area left for them on the field.-‘They can’t run, can’t defend ‘-” Vancouver showed the weaknesses of Inter Miami. Due to the fact that they can’t run, they can’t protect, and there’s not a balance in the group. Due to the fact that 5 stay up front and the other five shot and safeguard.
And they can’t defend,”stated Fox tv pundit Warren Barton, the former Premier League defender.Advertisement Vancouver’s Danish coach Jasper Sorensen was diplomatic in his post-game analysis but there were moments of frankness which revealed the agonizing truth for Mascherano and Messi. “I believe it is fair to say that we have a more youthful group and also a team nore capable of running and having fun with high strength, “he stated. “I think we really came out very strong at the start of the 2nd half and made use of that the pitch was extremely open, they had some players that kept up front, so we had to safeguard with a couple of guys and I simply said’continue running, run forward …” Miami did indeed have some players
that kept up front, not working back to assist in midfield and that is a method that merely does not work against a high-energy side like the Whitecaps.Advertisement Mascherano said he was now turning his focus to the domestic MLS campaign and not even thinking yet about June’s FIFA Club World Cup.But that obstacle will soon be up on Miami, who will open the tournament on international tv versus Egyptian side Al Ahly before facing Portuguese giants Porto and Brazilians Palmeiras.If they replicate the efficiencies produced in their two
games against the Whitecaps, Miami threat being humiliated on the international stage.And for MLS, a league which has worked so hard to loose their track record as a’ retirement home ‘for old stars from European clubs, there is an obvious threat in their most prominent club looking too old to keep up.Advertisement The Messi minute was expected to take MLS to the next level– now there is
the danger that Miami’s poor recruitment options actually eliminates from the genuine development that is occurring on the field, so well
demonstrated on Wednesday by the Whitecaps.sev/ rcw