This development has caused a huge stir among Jamaican fans, who are about to get their wish of seeing their idol Messi play here, which they thought would never happen. This is considered the biggest event in this country, since Brazilian legend, “King of Football” Pele and Santos Club came here to play in 1971.
The Cavaliers made a shocking decision to change their familiar stadium, the East Field, which has only 3,000 seats, to the National Stadium in the capital Kingston (Jamaica), which has a capacity of up to 35,000 seats, when they met Messi’s Inter Miami in the second leg of the round of 16 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
However, this decision was almost wrong, because Messi has not played in recent matches due to being overloaded and having muscle damage. The 37-year-old Argentine star has not played in the last 3 matches of Inter Miami.
Without Messi, Inter Miami still had consecutive victories, including a 2-0 win over Cavalier in the first leg, and 2 wins over Houston Dynamo FC with a score of 4-1 and Charlotte FC with a score of 1-0 in MLS (American professional soccer league).
These results led to speculation that, although Messi returned to the match against Charlotte FC, he did not play a single minute and would not travel to Jamaica for the return match against Cavalier, despite fans there having already bought all 35,000 tickets to watch the match.
Fortunately, during the training session on March 13 before the entire Inter Miami team flew to Jamaica, Coach Mascherano confirmed: “Messi has recovered his muscles significantly. He trained very well and completed the entire training session with the whole team in a very excited mood. Messi will come with us to Jamaica, but whether he plays in the starting lineup or sits on the bench, or how many minutes in the match, we will consider and decide.”
The image of Messi and his teammates smiling as they boarded the plane to Jamaica on March 13th also officially opened the festival for fans there. Tickets for the match were sold out and have now become a valuable commodity sought after by many people on online ticketing sites and social media platforms, according to Spanish newspaper Marca .
The possibility that Messi will play at least a few dozen minutes in the match between Inter Miami and Cavalier is extremely high. Recently, coach Mascherano confirmed that he wanted to put this famous player on the field in the match against Charlotte FC, but had to change the plan because the home team was at a disadvantage due to being short-handed early on when goalkeeper Oscar Ustari received a red card.
If Inter Miami continue to overcome Cavalier in the second leg, they will advance to the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals to face strong opponents in the United States, Los Angeles FC. At that time, Messi will also have the opportunity to face old opponents from the French team such as goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and striker Olivier Giroud.
