Allons-y, Hérons ! Inter Miami resumes hunt for hardware in Montreal | OneFootball

Long live the Club World Cup; now let's move forward

Le temps est maintenant. The time is now. How Inter Miami performs in July could determine whether the Herons raise a trophy or trophies in 2025.

When this morning dawned, Miami (8-3-5, 29 points) sat in seventh place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference, clinging to the last guaranteed playoff berth available (the top seven teams qualify for the MLS Cup chase; the eighth- and ninth-ranked teams will play a single match to decide who takes the final bracket spot). The Herons trail league-best Philadelphia by 11 points and fourth-place Columbus by eight.

On the bright side, Los Garzas have been in good form and have played just 16 league matches heading into Match Day 22, thanks to its commitment to the Concacaf Champions Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. Every team ahead of Miami in the standings already has played 20 matches.

Still, having games in hand does the Herons no good if they don't win them. After taking June off to compete against some of the world's best teams in the Club World Cup, the Pink & Black start a stretch of seven matches (including its first Leagues Cup group match against Liga MX side in 25 days -- including four in the next 11 -- starting tonight at CF Montreal (3-12-5, 14 points). It's important for Inter Miami to continue its recent good form to jumpstart its second half of the season.

Montreal is last in the East, but Le Bleu et Blanc et Noir have won two of their last three matches under interim coach Marco Donadel, including a 1-0 victory at Stade Saputo last week, and will continue trying to salvage what's left of their season against an Inter Miami side that has real vulnerabilities. Striker Prince Owusu has scored three of his seven goals in that span, including a brace in a 3-1 win on June 14 at Houston. Giacomo Vrioni has three goals. Caden Clark and Tom Pearce each have three assists.

Overall, the Canadian side has scored just 17 goals and surrendered 36 in 20 matches.

The Herons, on the other hand, have 36 goals in 16 league matches -- but surrendered 27. It's no surprise that reigning MLS Most Valuable Player and Inter Miami captain Lionel Messi is again among the league's leaders in goals (10) and goal contributions (16). Despite critics calling for his benching, 38-year-old striker Luis Suarez has been productive with 12 goal contributions (five goals and seven assists). Telasco Segovia has four goals and five assists, Tadeo Allende has six goals, and Fafa Picault has four goals and an assist.

Some supporters hope first-year Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano will play a heavily rotated squad tonight to rest key players for the grueling stretch ahead, but the former center back -- a teammate with Messi at Barcelona and on the Argentine national team, told reporters Friday that he won't make many changes, if any.“Clearly, we have a lot of games coming up, plus all the ones we have already played, so we will need everyone to participate,” he said. “We’ll see how we can manage some roster changes without feeling it too much because I don’t like to change six or seven players from one match to the other.”

Injuries will limit some of his choices. Michelle Kaufman, the soccer beat writer for the Miami Herald, reported that Yannick Bright, Gonzalo Lujan and David Ruiz practiced separately Friday and could return soon, but will not be available tonight. Noah Allen and Ian Fray, injured during the Club World Cup, weren't at practice and are out indefinitely, and goalkeeper Drake Callender still is recovering from sports hernia surgery.

Former Inter Miami player Bryce Duke, who spent 2022 and early 2023 playing for the Herons, is injured and will miss tonight's match. Duke was traded to the CF Montreal in April 2023 along with Ariel Lassiter in the deal that brought center back Kamal Miller to South Florida. Lassiter and Miller now play for former Inter Miami coach Phil Neville in Portland.