Messi 'available' for Sporting Kansas City match, says Miami coach Mascherano

Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano assured on Monday that Leo Messi is 100% available for the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League round of 32 that his team will play on Wednesday at Sporting Kansas City.

Mascherano assured that Messi will play the match against Kansas City in the pre-match press conference, before learning that the Confederation of North, Central American, Caribbean and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), would postpone the match by 24 hours because of an expected snowstorm at the match venue. “The availability is 100 and I can assure that Leo is going to play,” Mascherano assured.

The match will finally be played this Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time, instead of Tuesday at the same time, due to the heavy snowfall and low temperatures in Kansas City, where the temperatures will be between -13 and -18 degrees Celsius.

“The lineup and the plan are not going to vary much. The reality is that we will try to be protagonists and try to go in the same line we have had in the preseason,” said the Argentine.

“The weather factor may affect our game, but we will try to play our best and we intend to get a result that will put us on track for the knockout stage,” he added.

Mascherano commented positively on the moment Inter Miami is going through and praised the work they are doing defensively. “The team collectively has been doing very well defensively, or at least we are satisfied, obviously with the aim of continuing to improve,” he said.

Inter Miami is preparing to play its first official game of the 2025 season. The MLS side will make its MLS debut next Saturday against New York City. 

 

February 17, 2025