No Messi, no problem: Inter Miami fly past Pumas into Leagues Cup knockouts | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Inter Miami were deprived of their talisman, Lionel Messi, and trailing 1-0 as their Leagues Cup Phase One finale vs. Pumas UNAM – a game they had to win to assure themselves of advancement to the tournament’s knockout stages – approached halftime.

Yet half an hour of gametime later, that awkward, potentially disastrous scenario was just a memory, eclipsed by a comfortable 3-1 victory that made the Herons the first MLS side to book their place in the Leagues Cup quarterfinals.

Newcomer Rodrigo De Paul excelled in multiple midfield roles, while Luis Suárez rolled back the years yet again to snap his nine-game scoring drought with a masterfully-dispatched penalty kick conversion and two assists.

“I’m happy for Luis, because we were talking last week about how difficult it is for a striker when they don't score goals,” coach Javier Mascherano, who in recent weeks has repeatedly been asked why he’s still playing his former teammate amidst his slump, said postgame. “Today, for me, he had a very, very good performance, not just for the goal, but because of the assists, the movement, all the things that he gives to the team.”

Weathering Messi's absence

‘Messi & Friends’ has become a common shorthand for the current IMCF project, headlined by the GOAT but rendered something close to an MLS galacticos side by the presence of his pals Suárez, De Paul, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.

With the main attraction unavailable due to the hamstring injury he picked up against Necaxa last weekend, it fell to the second half of that phrase to carry the load on Wednesday. And they did so with distinction, smoothly executing Mascherano’s formation shift and some adjustments to individual roles to turn the tide against Los Felinos.

“I'm very grateful, because I know that they work hard,” said Mascherano. “Sometimes, as I told before, things can [be] going well, and sometimes can [be] going wrong, but at the end, you have to see how they try to do the things, and they try to help all the time their teammates, the team, to me also.

“They are very, very clever,” he continued, “so they know what we need in every single moment. Today, we asked Busi to play in a [midfield] line of three in the second half, and it was very, very quick, the change. You don't need to look to the bench. You can change, sometimes, some pieces with the same players.

"This is because we have excellent players with a lot of quality, but also because they are trying all the time to do their best.”

Stepping up

Everywhere Messi has played, the concept of ‘Messidependencia,’ a Spanish term coined to describe his teams’ reliance on his particular brand of magic, has followed, including South Florida. This victory over an established LIGA MX contender – even one that’s by their own admission shorthanded and a bit weary – may go a long way towards reassuring the Miami faithful that their Herons can survive with the big man sidelined.

“We feel it quite a bit, obviously, because he ends the plays, he starts the plays, and he’s the one who has the last pass,” Tadeo Allende, the scorer of IMCF’s third, told Apple TV in Spanish postgame on the topic of Messi’s absence. “But I think we knew how to handle it well, and we anxiously await him getting back on the pitch.

“Qualifying [for the knockouts] is a very important step for us,” he said. “Let's see how we work and analyze our next opponents; this is step by step.”

De Paul scores his first

De Paul’s midsummer arrival has been particularly vital. Messi’s teammate on the Argentine national team hit the ground running, to put it mildly, upon arrival from Atlético Madrid, contributing dominant performances with little to no acclimatization time, and here he chipped in his first goal in Rosanegra with optimal timing, a clinical equalizer on the stroke of halftime.

“I thanked him for the effort,” said Mascherano in Spanish of De Paul. “Three matches within a few days, but beyond the performance, also his willingness, his energy.

"I think that after some point, we need to understand that sometimes things can go better or worse, but the willingness with which he was playing after not having any preseason, after taking holidays and putting on his jersey and playing as he was doing, and spreading this to the rest of the team, I think [his signing] was a good idea.”

WATCH: Rodrigo De Paul opens his Inter Miami account!

Orlando derby beckons

Miami makes the short trip up the Florida Turnpike to duel their in-state rivals Orlando City on Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire. Then, they get a modest breather with a single-game week as the LA Galaxy visit Chase Stadium on Matchday 29 before the League Cup quarterfinals.

Remaining competitive while Messi’s hamstring heals is a must.

“When Leo is playing, we have a base of space that can open the game many times, right?” mused Mascherano. “And that player between the lines that comes in to create the superiority is not forced. It's natural, because Leo is the one that give us the possibilities; we can play it in a different manner.

"When he's not there, we need to look for different options.”

WATCH: Luis Suárez leads Inter Miami into Leagues Cup quarterfinals