Inter Miami have no option ‘but to win’ game against Hong Kong, says coach, as team struggle through preseason
- US side’s coach Gerado Martino acknowledges side’s ‘imperfections, mistakes in the preseason’
- Inter Miami go into game against city team having lost three of their four games so far on globe-trotting tour
Inter Miami’s game against a Hong Kong XI on Sunday was supposed to be the easiest of their globe-trotting preseason tour - instead they go into it without a win and on the back of a 6-0 hammering in Saudi Arabia.
And speaking at a press conference on Friday, coach Gerado Martino said the US team had no option “but to win” at Hong Kong Stadium, in what will be their third game in six days.
Thursday’s match had been billed as a last meeting between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but turned into a procession for the Portuguese striker’s Al Nassr side, hours before his Argentinian rival flew to Asia.
An injured Ronaldo watched and cheered from the stands, while Messi sat on the bench until seven minutes from the end, when his appearance was more about satisfying the spectators than influencing the game.
The Major League Soccer season begins on February 21, giving Martino less than three weeks to get his side in order, and in that regard an encounter with a team of semi-professionals has come at the right time.
Not that Martino is panicking. Acknowledging the “imperfections, mistakes in the preseason” he said the tour, which is taking in five countries and 24,000 miles, was “dedicated to looking for the best team for when the league season begins”.