Inter Miami criticised by former USMNT star for silence on Lionel Messi injury

The ex-World Cup player criticised the Florida outfit for their lack of clarity on the injury suffered by Lionel Messi.

Luis Guillermo Vázquezluis_lgazulJoe Brennanj4brennanUpdate: Oct 1st, 2023 11:29 EDT

GIORGIO VIERAAFP

Lionel Messi has played 37 minutes of football in 23 days, a situation that has gone from quiet rumblings to loud claps of thunder in the area surrounding the ground. People have been talking endlessly about the mystery status of the star player, with reports saying he could be suffering a knee tendon injury, something that manager Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino has strongly denied as the team continue their playoff push.

Herculez Gomez, who played for the USMNT at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and now works for ESPN, criticised Inter Miami for keeping secret the details on the reason why Messi is sidelined, as well as “stringing people along” into thinking the Argentine could soon be back in action.

MLS:

Is Modric joining Messi at Inter Miami?

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Messi has been on the sidelines for over 20 days with a mystery injury.Rich StorryUSA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

Inter Miami ‘stringing people along for ticket sales’

“Inter Miami not disclosing the severity of the injury is one thing”, he said in a series of Tweets, “but stringing people along for ticket sales and advertising is another. If people think there is a possibility of him playing they’ll shell out money to see him. It’s that simple.”

Given the injury to the forward that has seen him out for a number of key dates, Gomez asked for the league to make public the injuries suffered by players, in the same way NFL does, where the teams have a special list of injured players that they must release weekly with the issues.

“MLS has to mandate injuries to be disclosed as they do in the NFL”, he continued, “lots of money exchanging hands on this delicate information, both in Sports books and sales.”

Otra noche en casa 🏠 #MIAvNYCFC pic.twitter.com/snV94hrdtp

— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) September 30, 2023

How many games has Messi missed?