The first leg of the Concachampions quarterfinals between Inter Miami and Monterrey of Mexico was a match that still gives something to talk about. Despite the fact that the key concluded in favor of Rayados and that Concacaf publicly announced the corresponding sanctions, What happened in the locker room area of Chase Stadium is a topic that continues to generate controversy.
Once the match in Fort Lauderdale was over, the captain of the Argentine team, who did not participate in the game due to muscle discomfort, had a clash with coach Fernando Ortiz, who had made previous statements about alleged favoritism on the part of the referees towards the team. MLS franchise. He also had a clash with one of the members of the visiting technical staff, such as Nico Sánchez, who was the author of a controversial audio that quickly became viral on social networks.
The one who provided new details, until now unknown, about what happened in the stadium dressing rooms was the Mexican soccer player Jordi Cortizo during a talk on Padilla’s Podcast. The first thing to explain was what made the world champion in Qatar 2022 angry before the match: “Because of the statements he had made, because of the refereeing, which was in his favor, that he was no longer the same Messi as before. Like he was angry and said ‘not among Argentines’. ‘Why, if we are Argentines, are you whoring me?’ ‘Who do you think you are?’ Messi was angry about that issue”.
“And the teacher (Fernando Ortiz) was very calm. I think the teacher did very well, because he got him (Messi) out of his mind, he didn’t let the game be managed in favor of Inter Miami of the stars. I think the media focused on that. And it allowed us to concentrate on playing. I think it was a great strategy. The focus was on him, on what had happened and we were calm,” added the right winger. In the first leg, the Mexicans won 2-1 on American soil thanks to goals from Meza and Rodríguez (Avilés had opened the scoring for Las Garzas). Then, the series was defined in Monterrey, where the locals won 3-1.
During the interview, the attacker explained what happened in the locker room: “The game ends and I remember that I even entered the locker room and suddenly they started fighting. And the issue is that Nico Sánchez, who was at the top, because he is not on the bench with the other teachers. He goes down and the referees of the game pass by and Messi told them until they were going to die. They were fighting there like with the referees. Tata also told them everything. Nico only commented on what he said in the video. He told Concacaf that if we spoke like that they would throw us all out. And there the hill caught fire.”
“They were very upset by the red, but the red was red,” concluded Jordi Cortizo, endorsing the match judge’s decision to send off midfielder David Ruiz for a double warning, one of the factors that caused Inter Miami’s anger.
By being left out of the Concacaf Champions, all Las Garzas’ guns are now pointed at Major League Soccer, a competition that has those led by Gerardo Martino leading the Eastern Conference with 18 units, two more than their second team New York RB. This Saturday they will visit bottom club New England Revolution (4 points).
