Good, Bad & Ugly: Shorthanded Inter Miami on verge of Leagues Cup elimination

Emotion, effort aren't enough to sustain Herons

The absence of Lionel Messi, who traveled to Argentina after the death of his father yesterday, was present throughout Nu Stadium on Saturday.

From the "Fuerza Leo" signs, to the black armbands, to the moment of silence and Rodrigo De Paul's heartfelt tribute to his friend, the Herons' Leagues Cup match against Liga MX side CF Monterrey was an outpouring of love and support for Messi and his family after Jorge Messi died early Saturday after a long illness.

Unfortunately, Las Garzas couldn't translate that emotion into victory; the depth deficit showed as the Herons allowed two second half goals and lost to Rayados 1-2, all but eliminating Miami from the Leagues Cup. Even before the death of the senior Messi, Inter Miami knew it would be playing Monterrey woefully shorthanded. Interim coach Guillermo Hoyos' starting lineup featured a 4-4-2 with Rocco Ríos Novo in goal, wing backs Facundo Mura and Noah Allen, center backs Ian Fray and Micael, wingers De Paul and Telasco Segovia, midfielders Yannick Bright and Casemiro, and strikers Lovend's Delinois and Dániel Pintér.

Besides Messi, the Herons were without Luis Suárez, Germán Berterame, Mateo Silvetti, Tadeo Allende, Gonzalo Luján and Maximiliano Falcón, all of whom are key cogs in Inter Miami's rotation.

Here's a look at the Good, Bad and Ugly from Saturday's match:

GOOD -- De Paul tribute. In the 32nd minute, Messi's good friend and Argentina teammate -- often called Messi's on-pitch "bodyguard" -- took a short pass from Casemiro and blasted a ground ball into the left corner of Monterrey's net. Instead of running to celebrate, he whipped off his jersey to reveal that he was wearing Lionel Messi's No. 10 underneath. He pointed to the "Messi" name on the shirt's back and made a heart sign with his hands to emphasize his love and support of his friend.

De Paul received a yellow card for removing his jersey, but that was a small price to pay for a moment that stirred the crowd into cheers and chants.

BAD -- Leagues Cup fate. Of 36 contestants, only four Liga MX and four Major League Soccer teams will advance to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals. After its second of three "Phase One" matches, the Herons are 11th in the MLS standings with 3 points. Miami can earn at most 6 points; Four MLS teams already have 6 points after two matches, while four more teams have 3 points after playing just one match. Las Garzas has to hope that it wins Wednesday's final Phase One match against Club León by multiple goals and that no more than three of the teams ahead of them accumulate more than six points AND that they can build a large enough goal differential to win that tiebreaker against the other teams with six points.

It seems virtually certain that Inter Miami will not qualify for the Leagues Cup knockout rounds for the first time in the expanded competition's four-year history. The Herons won the 2023 Leagues Cup and finished second to Seattle a year ago.

UGLY -- Herons' execution. Especially in the second half, Miami's players struggled to hold their structure and repeatedly misread their teammates' intentions, booted easy chances over the goal, and failed to mark Rayados attackers. Of course, the lack of efficiency is understandable. Inexperienced players, players playing unfamiliar positions, exhaustion...plenty of excuses are available. But it was still pretty ugly.

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