Messi, plus eight others could be missing for Inter Miami vs. NY Red Bulls Saturday

Inter Miami could be missing as many as nine players – six of them regular starters – for the road game against New York Red Bulls on Saturday.

Lionel Messi is recovering from a hamstring strain, sat out last weekend’s game against D.C. United and did not report to the Argentina national team for a pair of friendlies over the next week, so he is not expected to play on Saturday. He did light training separate from the team on Wednesday morning.

Nico Freire injured a hamstring during the D.C. game and is doubtful for the weekend. Leo Campana did not participate in Wednesday’s training session due to an adductor strain and worked out in the gym. His status for the New York game is day to day.

Miami will be missing six players due to national team duty: Drake Callender (USA), Diego Gomez (Paraguay), Fede Redondo (Argentina U23), David Ruiz (Honduras), Shanyder Borgelin (Haiti), Israel Boatright (Dominican Republic U23). FIFA designates certain windows for international games and while most leagues around the world pause during those dates, Major League Soccer does not.

CJ Dos Santos will start at goalkeeper in place of Callender. Other players expected to be available Saturday include Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Robert Taylor, Julian Gressel, Noah Allen, Sergiy Kryvtsov, Tomas Aviles, Ryan Sailor, Lawson Sunderland.