Gary Smith and his Nashville SC players must be seeing Lionel Messi in their dreams by now.
The Boys in Gold will be going head-to-head once again Wednesday with the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or award, given to the world’s best soccer player.
The game will mark Nashville’s second meeting with Inter Miami CF in a week and the fourth time the teams have squared off since last August.
In other words, no team will have faced Messi and his Miami teammates as many times as Nashville since the superstar signed his first MLS contract last July.
Wednesday’s match in Miami will be the second leg of a CONCACF Champions Cup Round of 16 series. The teams fought to a 2-2 draw last Thursday at Geodis Park. If the teams remain deadlocked in aggregate goals following Wednesday’s game, the team with the most away goals will advance in the tournament.
“It’s a never-ending conundrum,” Smith said of the multiple Messi match-ups. “You try and set up a group to try and limit what he’s able to do. He’s proved throughout his career at the very best levels that, no matter how good you are defensively or how well organized you are, the caliber of the individual will always find a way.
“We want do our best to try and limit service to him, and then of course [have] that intensity where possible, in and around him. [But] I think most importantly of all, to be ourselves, to not play a game that is abnormal for us.”
Nashville will be without the services of team captain and central defender Walker Zimmerman, who will sit out the game after suffering a knee injury in the previous game against Miami.
That means even more of the responsibility for trying to contain Messi will fall on fellow central defender Lukas MacNaughton, who had a well-publicized run-in with Messi during last week’s contest. Late in the game, MacNaughton delivered a long pass from his end of the field, and as he was following through, his right cleat came down across Messi’s calf, dropping Miami’s star to the turf.
Video of the clip went viral, with MacNaughton predictably receiving plenty of social-media criticism for a play that wasn’t deemed a penalty. Messi writhed around the field for a few moments and pleaded for a call before getting up and playing the remainder of the contest.
“[Messi] is an experienced player,” MacNaughton said Tuesday. “He’s trying to get [a foul called] out of nothing but I’ve tackled enough players in my career that it is what it is. If somebody wants to make a fuss about it after the game or in the game, it’s just another tackle.
“Abuse is the same anywhere, in person and online. So, I mean, I’m ready to play. It hasn’t affected me.”
Added Smith: “I don’t read social media. And I would say a lot of those people that write on those sites are faceless and nameless in most cases. I think you’ll find that the stronger characters are normally the ones that are saying that out in the open where it’s a little more transparent.”
In his three games against Nashville, Messi has totaled two goals. He also converted a penalty kick in Miami’s shootout victory over Nashville in the Leagues Cup Final last August. Miami is 2-0-1 in those three contests.
So the Boys in Gold are still seeking their win over Messi, now hoping to upend him on his home turf.
They’ll need to score at least one goal, likely more, to do so.
“Yeah, I don’t think [the strategy] is going to change from last game,” MacNaughton said. “We’re here to score goals. In the previous games against Miami, we’ve shown that we can do that, and we’ve played them enough now that there’s no fear. We’re here to win and we’re here to advance.”