Lionel Messi came on midway through the second half and showed the difference.
Inter Miami (official name: Club Internacional), including Lionel Messi, comes to Japan. On February 7th, they played against Vessel Kobe at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States is currently in its off-season. The season begins on February 22nd, and Inter Miami is scheduled to play Salt Lake at home on the same day.
In other words, the match in Tokyo was two weeks before the start of the season.
Meanwhile, the J League will also start on February 23rd. Kobe’s first match will be against Jubilo Iwata on the 24th, but as last year’s J1 champions, Kobe will face Kawasaki Frontale one week earlier on February 17th at the FUJIFILM SUPER CUP.
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Two weeks before the start of the season, there is no way either team is in good condition yet.
That was obvious when I watched the match.
Moreover, Inter Miami had just come to Japan on the night of the 5th, two days before. Moreover, they came to Japan after playing matches in relatively warm regions such as Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. When I arrived in Japan, Tokyo was just hit by heavy snow.
Playing in the cold can lead to injuries, so it was probably inevitable that they played cautiously from beginning to end.
As a result, Inter Miami played slowly in the first half. It was like watching soccer in the 1970s.
The conditions at home in Kobe were clearly better (partly because they have an official match scheduled for a week later). Moreover, as they attacked Inter Miami with the style of play that won them the league title last season by making use of counter-pressing, the game became a one-sided Kobe pace.
According to official records, Kobe had six shots in the first half, while Inter Miami only had one shot from a distance in the 32nd minute by Robert Taylor.
The movement of Luis Suarez, who played in the top position, was not bad, but the ball did not get to Suarez easily, and left back Jordi Alba had to spend a lot of time playing defense alongside Daiki Sasaki and Takanori Sakai. Furthermore, Sergio Busquets was substituted after 25 minutes due to injury.