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Messi to miss Argentina friendlies due to injury
Injured Inter Miami CF superstar Lionel Messi's time on the sidelines will extend to the Argentina national team. The legendary No. 10, who sat out the Herons' Matchday 5 victory at D.C. United, was removed from La Albiceleste's roster for their US-based friendlies against El Salvador (March 22, Philadelphia) and Costa Rica (March 26, Los Angeles) later this month.
It’s about to be a weird one. Really, it’s the kind of week where you can’t even take much away other than points. You very likely aren’t going to learn much of anything. Like, even less than a normal MLS weekend where we typically learn next to nothing besides the fact that the strangeness of this league knows no bounds.
We’ve reached the March international break. That means teams (especially the good ones) are going to be dealing with more absences than normal this weekend. It’s one of those moments of the year that reminds you the Supporters’ Shield is both difficult to win and imperfect. Among other things like schedule imbalance, you get weeks like this where teams are missing key players, just because.
Some teams will be missing more of those key players than others this weekend. You can see a full list of probable absences here. Or you can just let us point out which teams will be hurting more than others.
Missing players: Tai Baribo (F, Israel), Andre Blake (GK, Jamaica), Jesús Bueno (M, Venezuela), Dániel Gazdag (M, Hungary), Nathan Harriel (D, USA U-23), Damion Lowe (D, Jamaica), José Martínez (M, Venezuela), Jack McGlynn (M, USA U-23)
Normally you wouldn’t be too worried about the Union. There always seem to be some highly talented academy kids they can throw at the problem and survive for a week. But it feels like this break comes at a particularly bad time. The Union are coming off last week’s embarrassing thrashing in Concacaf Champions Cup and need a bounce back. They’re still looking for their first win of the season, and missing multiple starters as they travel across the country to Portland isn’t an ideal situation for them to course correct.
Notably, they’ll be without Andre Blake in goal plus José Martínez, Daniel Gazdag and Jack McGlynn in midfield. That’s three-quarters of their diamond midfield missing and no safety net in goal behind them. Regardless of the result this weekend, maybe we can consider this week a vacation for those guys? This team has to hit the reset button somehow.
Missing players: David Brekalo (D, Slovenia), Wilder Cartagena (M, Peru), Pedro Gallese (GK, Peru), Favian Loyola (F, USA U-19), Duncan McGuire (F, USA U-23) Abdi Salim (D, Somalia)
Basically take everything we just said about Philadelphia and apply it to Orlando. The Lions are still looking for their first win of the season, have already lost to both of their biggest rivals, and they just crashed out of CCC. The vibes are bad and they probably aren’t thrilled to be sending key players away immediately.
David Brekalo, Pedro Gallese, Wilder Cartagena and Duncan McGuire are all starters who won’t be available this weekend. The good news is that, unlike Philadelphia, Orlando get to stay at home. The even better news is that they get to stay at home and play a beatable Austin team. They should still have enough firepower to get past Austin, even if they don’t have all their starters. If they don’t… well, teams who earn one point in their first five games don’t typically find their way to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
Missing players: Cory Burke (F, Jamaica), Carlos Coronel (GK, Paraguay), Daniel Edelman (M, USA U-23), Noah Eile (D, Sweden U-21), Emil Forsberg (M, Sweden) John Tolkin (D, USA U-23)
The Red Bulls are reeling a bit after getting smacked in Columbus last weekend. Hopefully for them, their system can cover up enough holes to make the loss of guys like Emil Forsberg and John Tolkin hurt a little less. It’s a major test for New York’s depth, though. Even with Forsberg, genuine concerns remain about their ability to put the ball in the back of the net. Who’s going to step up without their best player?
They’ll need someone to do something pretty special. Inter Miami are in town this weekend. Which, hey speaking of…
Missing players: Drake Callender (GK, USA), Diego Gómez (M, Paraguay), Federico Redondo (M, Argentina U-23), David Ruiz (M, Honduras)
This gets a little more interesting considering Lionel Messi is dealing with a hamstring injury. Don’t get me wrong: they still have plenty of talent and won’t be missing too many people. But their absences are concentrated in midfield. Gómez and Redondo are starters, and Ruiz is typically the next guy up. The Herons might be a little thin at a position where it’s not ideal to be thin when you’re going up against Energy Drink Soccer. That could be enough to make things weird for a bit… until Inter Miami score three times in the last 10 minutes to win 3-2, just because.
Missing players: Luis Abram (D, Peru), Thiago Almada (M, Argentina U-23), Ajani Fortune (M, Trinidad & Tobago), Giorgos Giakoumakis (F, Greece), Bartosz Slisz (M, Poland), Caleb Wiley (D, USA U-23)
Last year’s March international break sent a threadbare Atlanta United side to Columbus. You might remember that this did not go well for Atlanta. The Five Stripes got blasted 6-1 in the worst loss in club history. This year, they’ll be heading out on the road again and, once again, will be missing key players at multiple positions. This is a big test for their depth. Toronto haven’t been spectacular so far this year, but they’ve been able to grind out results. Atlanta will have to prove they’ve rounded out their roster a little more effectively than in past years.
Vancouver Whitecaps coach Sartini's suspension reduced: Major League Soccer today announced that the suspension issued to Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Vanni Sartini will be reduced by two games, following a successful petition. In addition to the automatic one-match suspension for the red card, Sartini has served two games of the original five-game suspension and now will serve the final game of the suspension on Saturday, March 23 against Real Salt Lake.
- Sacha Kljestan (!!) looked at whose stock is up and whose stock is down.
- Inter Miami's Luis Suárez is your Player of the Matchday.
- Here’s your AT&T 5G Team of the Matchday.
- Charles Boehm picked out the standout young players from Matchday 5.
- Jonathan Sigal has a thought on each team after Matchday 5.
- Voting for the AT&T 5G Goal of the Matchday is now open.
Good luck out there. Don’t count yourself out.
