Know Thy Enemy: Outnumbered Revolution vs Inter Messi Miami Mania
A massive neutral or even pro Messi crowd will be at Gillette today, and hopefully everyone in attendance goes home with a memorable experience of watching one of the sports' legends in person.
Okay, we all know that the Revs are expecting a massive crowd upwards of 60,000 people today and that is a big deal. Yes, Lionel Messi is in town with the top of the East Inter Miami team that has been an attacking force this year thanks to Messi and Luis Suarez.
Yes, I’m sure I should be betting the over on the amount of jokes at the expense of the grandiose nature of today’s relatively meaningless late April regular season game compared to the crowd that will be on hand to watch the last place home side. Also yes, jokes made about dual merch for today’s game should be made in good taste as most of you who received this direct to your inbox are not the target audience for said items.
Today is a special occasion in New England, and a day that will be memorable to a lot of people. Probably not a lot of people in The Fort, but their will be a time and place to air grievances about the current season, the Revs overall trajectory, and the team’s ability to turn today’s attendees into next week’s lifers. These all might be valid arguments for next week, but we can keep our unhappy thoughts to ourselves for another couple of days if need be cause this might be a long season. No reason to try to sprint to the finish in the first mile (or ten miles, how many games into the season are we?) of the Wooden Spoon marathon.
No, today should be about the spectacle of the hopefully entertaining soccer match which kicks off tonight. A game in which on paper or at a quick glance of the standings, the Revs look horribly mismatched in. The fact that it’s entirely possible the majority of fans in the stadium don’t know this is a last versus first matchup is irrelevant - they are here to see their hero and enjoy themselves. I hope the sections clad in navy and red understand and respect this…and the hashtag too at least for the day.
Soccer is the world’s game, and today a not insignificant number of the world’s eyes will be looking at Gillette Stadium both in person and streaming online. I hope regardless of the Revs’ performance today that we respect give this event the reverence it deserves. We can ruin Monday with our griping and slight regret that it is entirely possible that a couple of the world’s best players are going to drop like five goals on us tonight. And we might just have to sit back and enjoy the show.
In honor of this grand attendance today, we have solicited not one but two friends from the land of sunshine and herons. Alex Windley of The Heron’s Nest on substack and Xavier Guerrero of Lemon City Live were both kind enough to answer our questions today. Please be sure to check out their sites for all of their Revs-Miami coverage.
TBM: Okay we know that having Messi and Suarez in MLS is incredibly unfair but when they're both on the field just how good is this Miami attack and who are other players that get their share of the spotlight with these two?
AW: As you said, when Messi and Suarez are on the field together, magic happens. But, what people often don't see is that Julian Gressel is the catalyst of most of Miami offensive movements. Don't get me wrong, Messi and Suarez almost always create and finish off plays themselves, but it's Gressel who usually starts the attacking sequences with clever first time touches or cheeky disguised passes on the flanks. The pass before the final pass, essentially.
XG: Messi & Suarez are legends of the game that despite their ages still perform at a very high level. Many were skeptical of Suarez before joining Miami because of his history of knee issues, but he has been healthy and lethal for the Herons. When you pair perhaps the best player in the game's history with one of the best strikers to ever play, you're bound to get production in the form of goals and assists.
Diego Gomez, Federico Redondo, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Julian Gressel, Nicolas Freire, and David Ruiz are important contributors for Miami. The first three are unfortunately out for the match on Saturday. Busquets conducts the midfield, Gressel excels at making key passes to break defenses down, and David Ruiz is the young motor in the midfield who plays box-to-box. Gomez and Redondo are injured, but when they are available to play with Busquets; the Miami midfield is dominant.
TBM: On the other side of the ball, somehow Miami has given up more goals than the Revs so far (in two more games played) so are their concerns in defense or giving up a lot of counterattacks with the focus on the offensive side of the ball? How can Miami balance things going forward or will it be the best defense is a good offense?
AW: I don't think it's the back line as a whole. For Miami, bad midfield giveaways and sloppy transition defense by the midfield often leaves Miami’s center-backs exposed, thus leading to counterattacking opportunities for the opponent. Quite frankly, I don't think this issue will necessarily be fixed until midfielder Federico Redondo fully returns to injury, because his work rate and stamina helps cover a ton of ground that Busquets can't.
XG: Miami's "weakness" is its defense, especially at center back. The Heronsa are still plus seven in goal differential but are vulnerable to balls served over the top of the defensive line. The center backs aren't exceedingly fast and sometimes can lose track of players cutting in behind them. The unit has improved as the season has progressed and is good enough to win an MLS title with the return of injured players and the acquisition of others.
TBM: Miami is first in the East, what does this team need - either this season or next year - to try and pull off some kind of trophy treble/quadruple with the Shield/Open Cup*/MLS Playoffs and either CCL or League Cup wins? And are those expectations in any way reasonable given MLS' salary constraints currently?
AW: Stay healthy and consistent! One of Miami's major flaws last year was their inconsistent form in MLS. Furthermore, injuries to Messi and Jordi Alba down the stretch killed their playoff hopes. This season, Miami's depth is a lot more solid than it was previously and there's a plethora of Academy talent that have stepped up their game enough where Tata Martino can comfortably place them in the starting eleven if/when Messi, Busquets, Suarez or Alba needs a rest and perform well.
XG: The high expectations for Miami were not unreasonable. This team with a complete and healthy roster can compete with the top teams in the region. Unfortunately, the inordinate amount of serious injuries to key players has never allowed the team a completely healthy squad. The injury list for Saturday's game is about 8 players deep, with many being quality starters or backups.
I think Tata will start with a similar lineup as the previous match and substitute the star veterans late in the game. I would not be surprised if Matias Rojas gets some minutes for Messi and Busquets is subbed off too. Leonardo Campana loves to play the Revolution, so I predict 3-1 Miami.
Alex’s Extras
Lineup - 4-3-3
Drake Callender; Chelo Weigandt, Tomas Avilés, Nicolas Freire, Franco Negri; Julian Gressel, Sergio Busquets, David Ruiz; Matias Rojas, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi.
Injuries: Jordi Alba, Federico Redondo, Diego Gomez
Score Prediction: 3-2 Miami win.
Pregame, like preseason, is for hope! Miami IS vulnerable at the back. With a big game to limit Busquets, Gressel and any other passes into Messi and Suarez, the Revs could give themselves a chance to make a game of it!!
Food Poisoning... excuses are starting early. I am really hoping for a Revs win, it would be fantastic, but I am a realist and would be satisfied with a tie. I do wonder about the usage of Borrero, under what circumstances would Porter play him? 75th minute sub for that extra bit of energy is my guess regardless of score.