Lionel Messi returned to training with his Major League Soccer side Inter Miami on Wednesday after 10 days out of action for the club after Argentina suffered a heartbreaking World Cup loss to Spain in the final. Messi was shown stepping onto the training pitch with his long-time teammate Luis Suarez in a video shared across social media by the MLS team and others as the players were seen arriving to the field and then going home to meet his family in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina, to take time to reflect on what he did in the final of the tournament that ended in a 1-0 loss to Spain on July 19 in New Jersey.
The emotional toll of the loss was seen immediately after the match when the Argentinian captain wrote a letter on social media saying the pain was immense and would take a long time to heal. The world’s greatest player at 39 years old had been trying to win a third World Cup record with his national team. Messi has not yet disclosed whether he wants to take up the role of an Argentina international in the future.
In Messi’s extended post-World Cup absence, Inter Miami coach and fellow countryman Guillermo Hoyos said there was no firm timeline for Messi to return with the club and international teammate Rodrigo De Paul. Hoyos defended the players’ need for a break, as a World Cup is a huge physical and mental job that takes so much out of a person and they needed a lot of time to recover.
Due to the long-anticipated recovery period that is required, Messi and De Paul have been approved by Major League Soccer to skip this week's big-time All-Star game in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event brings together MLS stars to play against a Mexican club side from the All-Star team. Messi has never been selected to play in the All-Star game in his entire career and was served with a one-match ban just before the World Cup last year over injury. But because of the short turnaround the players have been through in the last few months following all the World Cup activity, league officials have awarded both players permission to skip the All-Star game.
Messi has returned to his club’s training but the date for his return to the field has not yet been officially announced by the coaching staff. Inter Miami will host the Columbus Crew in the league on Saturday before they will move on to the start of their campaign in the Leagues Cup, which is a league competition that mixes MLS and Liga MX clubs, and will play San Luis next Wednesday.
