Sporting KC v Inter Miami Preview: Can Messi do it in the Cold?

Sporting KC vs Inter Miami

When: Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 at 7:00 PM CT

Updated When: Wednesday, February 19th at 7:00PM

Where: Children’s Mercy Park

Competition: CONCACAF Champions Cup

How to Watch/Stream: Fox Sports 2 (FS2 – English) | ViX or YouTube (Spanish)

2024 was a season to forget for Sporting Kansas City. They won just eight league games in 34 tries and finished with 31 points on the season. They only got more points than the Chicago Fire (30) and San Jose Earthquakes (21).

Because of that, much of the team has been turned over in the offseason. The word “rebuild,” which seemingly hasn’t come from Manager and Chief Soccer Officer Peter Vermes’ mouth in well over a decade, was on his lips all offseason.

If you stopped paying attention to Sporting KC when the season ended (or long before), you may not recognize this team when they take the field on Tuesday night. Gone is arguably the best goalkeeper in club history, Tim Melia. The captain and fan favorite, Johnny Russell, has also departed. Remi Walter and Andreu Fontas were let go as their contracts expired as well.

In a more recent move, Sporting Kansas City sold their Designated Player Alan Pulido back to his prior club, Chivas, for a reported $1.5 million transfer fee. In total, nine players left in the offseason and eight more arrived. It’s still just the first window of a three window rebuild, but the process took a huge leap forward with the signing of two new DPs: Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia. The #9 and #10 respectively.

The team also added Russian winger Shapi Suleymanov, MLS veteran striker Mason Toye, center back Jansen Miller and three Homegrown signings (Jacob Bartlett, Ian James and Jack Kortkamp).

How Did They Get Here?

Inter Miami’s path to CCC is clear. They won the 2024 Supporters’ Shield for the best record in Major League Soccer.

Sporting KC got in on a weirder path. Typically, the winner of the US Open Cup qualifies, but because LAFC had already qualified as the 2024 Leagues Cup runner-up, SKC just had to get to the final to qualify. The final of a USOC that only had eight MLS teams and KC only beat one of them (FC Dallas).

After the 2024 season they had, it’s arguable Sporting KC are the worst team to ever qualify for a version of this CONCACAF competition.

Will Messi Play?

Potentially the biggest question fans are asking, is if Lionel Messi will even play in the game. There are a few factors to consider.

First, it’s going to be bitter cold. As my colleague Mike Kuhn pointed out, the current forecast is at just 5°F and the awful cold of the 2013 MLS Cup was at 22°F. There are differences in those games, as there is field heating technology installed (and later upgraded) that’ll keep the pitch at a balmy 50°F. The air and wind above the surface is another issue.

Playing in that kind of cold isn’t ideal (let alone the fans sitting in it). Add in there is a good chance of snow and it feels like a situation where you wouldn’t want to risk the health of Messi. But all early indications show the game will probably happen.

A second issue around Messi is he played 75 minutes in a preseason game against Orlando City on Friday, just four days before the CCC fixture. Manager Javier Mascherano had said he may not play in preparation for Champions Cup. But since he did, is this a sign that he’ll not be playing Tuesday?

Finally, if the cold and short rest aren’t enough, it’s not clear Miami need Messi to win this game. These teams have met twice before and one of those games didn’t include Messi and Inter Miami still won.

Adding to that, Joaquin Fernandez and Logan Ndenbe missed the last couple weeks of preseason, Dany Rosero hasn’t put in a shift longer than 30 minutes and you have a recipe for a makeshift defense. Those three were presumed starters before the season and none of them may take the field (though Ndenbe says he’s good), particularly in this weather. Plus, who knows who is playing right back. Probably Jake Davis who is at his best in the midfield.

Update: His coach says he’ll play.

Mascherano: “I can assure that [Messi] will play.”

Who Else is on Inter Miami?

Obviously, you know the big names in Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. But there has been some turnover in the offseason.

The team sold Leo Campana to the New England Revolution to go lead their line. Diego Gomez was transferred to Brightton & Hove Albion for a massive fee. More recently they made sales to Estudiantes (Facundo Farias) and Ludogorets Razgrad (Emerson Rodríguez).

The team has gone out and done some more spending, this time bringing in defenders Gonzalo Luján from San Lorenzo (Argentina) and Maxi Falcón from Colo-Colo (Chile). They also paid for midfielder Telasco Segovia from Casa Pia AC (Portugal).

In addition to transfers, they have a few loans. First, forward Tadeo Allende from Celta de Vigo (Spain). They’ve also added GK Rocco Ríos Novo, formerly of Phoenix Rising, on loan from Lanus.

Forward Fafa Picault joined as a free agent from the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Predictions

CONCACAF Champions Cup, then known as the Champions League, can ruin a season. Sporting KC progressed all the way to the semifinals in 2019. That was also the first year since 2010 that the team didn’t qualify for the playoffs in MLS. The injuries and fixture congestion caught up with the team and it’s arguable they’ve never recovered.

To be clear, CCL/CCC isn’t the sole reason for that downfall, a lack of spending contributed heavily. But the spending is back! Sporting KC dropped a reported $9 million in transfer fees over the course of three days to acquire new DPs Joveljic and Garcia, as well as Targeted Allocation Money (TAM) signing Shapi Suleymanov. And there is still room in the budget for more spending.

But there is a caveat. Garcia just arrived Friday. Suleymanov was set to arrive in KC on Saturday. It’s not realistic they will be big contributors, and they may not even play. Even Joveljic has only been on the team for two weeks, though I’d expect him to start.

Could Sporting KC upset Miami? Sure, anything is possible, particularly in this weather.

But going back to their injured back line, it’s going to be tough to keep a shutout. Miami has leaked goals at times, and they did give up two counter-attacking goals against Orlando on Friday. However, Sporting KC have only scored twice in six preseason games, and those both came against Charlotte FC. The “starters” in those preseason games often kept the other team from scoring, but they weren’t doing much scoring themselves. And the team missed two PKs in preseason.

And preseason is the right word. Both teams will likely be in preseason form, but the ceiling is much higher for Miami, with or without Messi. No matter the result, the teams will play again the following Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The expectation should be for one of, if not the best, MLS team to beat a team that were in the Wooden Spoon “race” until late in the year. Getting eliminated from CCC isn’t the end of the world. Sporting KC would then officially only have MLS play to focus on (they aren’t in the US Open Cup or Leagues Cup) while other teams are beaten down by schedule congestion.

PREDICTION: 1-0 Miami Win