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

The start of competitive soccer for Sporting Kansas City has been a bit of a whirlwind in the past week. From initial reports that there was almost no way the game wouldn’t go forward, to newer reports that CONCACAF is open to the possibility of postponing the game until Wednesday.

The weather will undoubtedly be a factor, but the other storyline is who is going to play.

Sporting KC recently added two new Designated Players in striker Dejan Joveljic and Manu Garcia, along with a Targeted Allocation Money signing in Shapi Suleymanov. Garcia arrived late last week and practiced for the first time Friday. Suleymanov arrived over the weekend and had his first practice today. It’s unclear which of them will take the field.

One person who apparently will take the field is Inter Miami star Lionel Messi. In a press availability on Monday morning, manager Javier Mascherano said, “Messi is 100 percent available. I can assure that he will play.”

🗣️ Javier Mascherano on Lionel Messi’s availability against Sporting Kansas City:

“Messi is 100 percent available. I can assure that he will play.”#InterMiamiCF #Messi𓃵

— Franco Panizo (@FrancoPanizo) February 17, 2025

It’s been the topic of much debate since it was announced Sporting KC would host Inter Miami if Messi would even take the field. In the match preview on this site, which only came out a day ago, we concluded he probably wouldn’t play. He played 75 minutes four days before the SKC game against Orlando City in a friendly. Add to the short rest that the weather will be awful. And finally, he probably doesn’t need to play with KC’s roster in flux.

Josh Wallace and I debated it on this week’s For the Glory KC podcast as well. Apparently, we don’t know anything!

Sporting KC held their own against Miami last year when the team hosted them at Arrowhead. The roster has turned over pretty heavily since then and most of the stars haven’t been with the team too terribly long. Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday) will give us our first glimpse of how SKC’s new roster is coming together.