Inter Miami will be out nine important players including Lionel Messi, new signing Federico Redondo, and Paraguayan ace Diego Gomez. Be it injuries or international window, Inter Miami and the New York Red Bulls for that matter are out a significant number of players.
Left with no choice, Martino looks to fill some spots with players from Inter Miami II’s reserve squad. According to Michelle Kaufman those players are defender Tyler Hall, Brazilian midfielder Leonardo Afonso, midfielder Ricardo Montenegro, and a player identified by the last name Casas.
Inter Miami are in first place in the MLS East tied with 10 points with the Columbus Crew, the New York Red Bulls are in sixth with a 2-1-1 record to start the season.
Inter Miami and NY Red Bulls wanted to cancel game
Tata Martino in speaking with the press admitted that both Inter Miami and NY Red Bulls agreed to cancel the game which has a total of 15 players from each roster combined missing for various reasons, but mostly due to international all ups.
“We received a request from Red Bulls to postpone this match (due to FIFA date) and we agreed, but (MLS) didn’t approve. It’s something that will have to be considered, the league will have to continue assessing (playing though FIFA breaks)” Martino stated.
Martino also went on to point out that Venezuela fielded two central midfielders that play in MLS against Italy (a 2-1 win for the four time world champions), continuing to make his point that more and more MLS players are on international duty during the FIFA dates.