Messi status for NYCFC game Saturday unknown after he sits out U.S. Open Cup final

Thousands of pink No. 10 Lionel Messi jerseys nearly filled DRV PNK Stadium for the highly anticipated U.S. Open Cup final between Inter Miami and the Houston Dynamo Wednesday night, but the Argentine icon was not wearing one.

Messi, bothered by a nagging old leg injury, was not in uniform and left off the Miami roster. He showed up shortly before kickoff in street clothes and watched the game from the field-level suites with his family.

The Argentine icon was sorely missed, as was left back Jordi Alba, who also skipped the game with an unspecified leg muscle injury. Houston dominated every aspect of play from the opening whistle and claimed the historic 109-year-old trophy with a 2-1 victory.

Inter Miami coach Tata Martino, asked after the game for an update on Messi, said: “It was clearly not prudent for him to play, not even for a few minutes. It was too risky. Yes, he will surely play before the league season ends. We will go game by game to see at what point the medical team says he is in condition to play without running risks.”

Five regular season games remain, and Inter Miami sits five points below the playoff line. The next two games are Saturday at home against New York City FC and Wednesday on the road against Chicago Fire, both teams that sit between Miami and the ninth-place final playoff spot.

The uncertainty around Messi’s availability will continue over the next 48 hours, as he has missed four of Inter Miami’s past five games (one while on national team duty, the other three due to injury) and played only 37 minutes against Toronto.

Inter Miami went on a 12-game unbeaten streak after Messi’s arrival in July and he scored 11 goals in that span. But without him, the team is 2-2-1.

Signs pointed to him making his return for the U.S. Open Cup final, and the crowd of 20,288 included French legend Zinedine Zidane, Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, and Dynamo co-owner James Harden.

Tickets were going for $150 to $4,000 on Wednesday afternoon, dipping in price from earlier in the week as Messi’s status for the game was unknown. Hundreds of fans lined up along parking lot barricades in the rain before the game, hoping to catch a glimpse of Messi on the team bus as it entered the stadium’s gated team entrance.

But he was nowhere to be seen. The team disembarked without Messi and Alba, and a few minutes later, the team rosters were released and both players were missing, taking some wind out of Miami’s sails.

The game drew 52 T.V. rights holders, many of whom traveled with crews from Latin America, and they were anticipating covering Messi in his second cup final since joining Inter Miami in July. Miami won the Leagues Cup final against Nashville SC in August. Messi has scored 11 goals over 13 games he played with Miami.

Instead, they saw Messi’s teammates outplayed from start to finish.

The Dynamo, led by Hector Herrera and “Coco” Carrasquilla, outsprinted Miami in transition and found holes in the porous Miami defense, which looked disjointed and confused at times. Inter Miami could get nothing going offensively, and was outshot 18-1 in the first half with the lone shot coming from Key Biscayne teenager Benjamin Cremaschi in the 42nd minute.

Houston had two great chances to score in the 22^nd minute, but Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender made a pair of spectacular back-to-back saves on shots by Nelson Quinones and Corey Baird. Callender leaped to catch the first shot and then dove to block Baird’s shot on the rebound.

Griffin Dorsey gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the 24^th minute on a counterattack that resulted in a right footed shot from the right side of the box to the upper center of the goal.

The visitors made it 2-0 in the 33^rd minute when Amine Bassi converted a penalty kick after Miami defender DeAndre Yedlin was yellow carded for taking down Quinones in the box.

It was briefly 3-0, but Quinones’ apparent goal in the 73rd minute was reversed after VAR determined he was offside.

Martino made two adjustments at halftime, replacing Robert Taylor and Diego Gomez with Josef Martinez and Dixon Arroyo. They seemed to energize the group, and Miami finally got itself into scoring situations.

Martinez gave the home fans reason to hope with a left-footed goal in the 92^nd minute. The Venezuelan forward collected a through ball from Facundo Farias and launched the shot, igniting the crowd through the remaining four minutes of added time.

But it was not enough.

“What I saw was a team that was spent,” Martino said of his team, which has played 16 games in 64 days, an average of one every four days. “Some could say we were not good physically, others could say we were not good tactically. The reality is we are starting to suffer the consequences of so many games...When we first all came together and were on the win streak, players were more fresh, we had not accumulated so many games, and that has taken a physical and mental toll.”

Olsen had game plan “with and without Messi”

Houston coach Ben Olsen said his team prepared for Messi and Alba all week, but, like everyone else, were hearing rumors they might not play.

“Let’s be honest, they are two different teams with and without them,” Olsen said. “We had a fairly clear game plan with and without (Messi). They are definitely different when he’s not on the field and I think they missed him, but that’s ok. They’re still a pretty good team they’ve put together in a short amount of time, an incredible group, and I’m not going to take anything away from our group.”

Olsen, who took over the team last winter, spoke afterward about what the trophy meant for his club, which was sometimes called “invisible’’ in the past.

“A great moment for the organization pushing us forward,” Olsen said. “We were so up for this match. We put so much into it. Some really good soccer from the offensive end, and from a defensive end really dialed in....When I got to Houston there was a lot of disrespect going on, and this puts Houston back on the map a little bit.”