By Joiner Martínez
The MLS begins its tenth round this Saturday with 14 matches and one of the most notable will take place at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts when Inter Miami will visit the New England Revolution.
Caleb Porter, coach of the New England Revolution, was asked if he is focused on how to stop Messi and responded: “It has to be that way because obviously he is so crucial to the way they play, you know that. He’s funny because Suarez actually has more goals than him right now. So everyone forgets about (Luis) Suárez, who is also a world-class player, like (Jordi) Alba and (Sergio) Busquets.”
And he added: “They have a very talented team. We will continue to improve and take into account how they play to develop what we believe is a good plan for the game.”
“You know that you don’t stop Messi, but you know that you can limit his touches in key areas because when he is in key areas around the box he is lethal, unstoppable in some aspects. So we only have to do it by zone, we are not going to mark it, or we have to do it, by zones in the areas,” argued the strategist of the Massachusetts-based franchise.
And he stressed: “He floats everywhere, so wherever he floats we have to get the kids to surround him. Make it a game where he is not where he wants to be.”
Messi and Suárez will play against New England Revolution
Gerardo Martino cleared up doubts about the presence of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez in the match: “The players are all available, all those who are able to travel travel. Then we will see the formation to face New England. We already played in Charlotte on artificial grass last year, so in principle there is no problem.”
Martino also confirmed that Matías Rojas, the Herons’ latest reinforcement, “is part of the squad and will travel” to New England for this Saturday’s game.
However, the 61-year-old Argentine coach clarified that Jordi Alba and Federico Redondo will not be part of the game, who will be monitored from next week. Diego Gómez, who was injured last Saturday against Nashville, will also not be available.
“Since the season started we have been dealing with injury concerns. The last to fall was Diego, obviously it has been at different times and the evolution of each player is different, but this week we have the possibility of bringing back Robert and Leo, and next week we will begin to follow the situation with Jordi and Federico,” said Martino.
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