The Daily Heron: Messi Will Rest When He’s Ready, Rankings Respect and Noonan’s Notes

Messi will start against Cincinnati, choose when to rest

Gerardo Martino and Lionel Messi are newcomers to Inter Miami, but not to each other. Tata has coached Leo twice before, with Barcelona and Argentina’s national team; they have some understanding of one another. Also, Messi is the greatest player of this or any other generation, so it isn’t surprising that Martino trusts his judgment.

If Messi wants to play, he will play, Martino told reporters.

"That is a conversation we had a few days ago, that he should rest, and recover every 3-4 days. Clearly Wednesday will not be that day, but you all know how he is, he likes to play. So, as long as he doesn’t mention anything, he will keep on playing."

Inter Miami jumps 19 points in power rankings

It is impossible to overemphasize how dramatically Inter Miami has changed with the summer transfer season, but various power rankings are one indicator.

MLSSoccer,com’s last power rankings, released the day before La Rosanegra edged Nashville SC in a classic nail-biter to win its seventh-straight match and the Leagues Cup championship, moved the Herons up a meteoric 16 spots, from 27th to 11th.

Two days after the historic win, ESPN’s United Kingdom staff gave the Herons a 19-place bump, from 29th to 10th. It’s almost like it’s a different team….

Last-place Herons earn first trophy before FC Cincinnati

Never let it be said that we’re above a little good-natured jab. Reading an interview with FC Cincinnati skipper Pat Noonan — who’s turned the once laughable perennial Wooden Spoon candidates into an MLS juggernaut — we were reminded that despite having MLS’ best record with 51 points, the Cincinnati side has yet to win a trophy since joining the league five years ago.

Noonan is a good coach and, by all accounts, a good guy. And he had nice things to say about Messi and Inter Miami, so we hope he earns that trophy soon. Just not too soon.

"It's obviously great for our league. Probably the best player that’s ever played the game. He's part of our league and it’s put more eyes on it. I think it's helped certainly with the attention, the casual fan and the casual set of eyes tuning in to see what our league's about. That's always a good thing. It might not attract everybody, but it's attracting more."

- Pat Noonan, FC Cincinnati head coach