South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
GONZALO READY TO GO
Higuain expected to make Inter Miami debut against Philly
Gonzalo Higuain will be available for Inter Miami CF and is expected to make his debut for the team Sunday against the Philadelphia Union.
Higuain, who signed with Inter Miami Sept. 18, was cleared for the match Saturday afternoon after receiving his visa and international transfer certificate.
He started practicing with the team earlier this week as he waited for the documentation that would clear him to play.
Inter Miami coach Diego Alonso told reporters as recently as Friday evening that they didn’t know what was going to happen regarding Higuain’s availability, but said the Argentine forward will travel with the team Sunday morning for his highly anticipated debut.
Higuain has only been able to train with the team since Tuesday after completing his mandatory quarantine period per Major League Soccer’s COVID-19 protocol. Despite the limited practice time with him, Higuain’s new teammates have already expressed excitement with how he’ll help Inter Miami turn their season around after starting the year 3-8-2.
Rodolfo Pizarro, one of Inter Miami’s designated players, may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Higuain’s presence on the field as the Mexican midfielder has been Inter Miami’s most productive attacking player with three goals and four assists.
Higuain built a reputation as one of the elite goal scorers in the world since becoming a professional in 2005, netting 226 total goals across 399 appearances during his time with Real Madrid, Napoli and Juventus.
“We’ve spoken a little bit but he’s shown that he’s here eager to play,” Pizarro said, “and he’s for sure going to help the team grow.”
Meanwhile, Pizarro is experiencing his own predicament about his availability for future Inter Miami games.
The Mexican national soccer team has been in contact with Inter Miami regarding Pizarro’s availability for friendly matches that take place during FIFA’s upcoming international window in October.
While Pizarro wasn’t called up for Mexico’s friendly against Guatemala on Wednesday, it’s believed they want to have him available for the friendly against Netherlands Oct. 7.
The Athletic reported MLS is letting individual c l u b s d e c i d e wh e t h e r they’ll release players to their national teams during the window. Their report came after the New York Times reported that the league told the Paraguayan and Peruvian federations it won’t release some players to the national teams for their CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers next month.
Inter Miami would prefer that Pizarro doesn’t travel for the friendly as they’re in the midst of a playoff push and he would miss multiple games due to travel and a mandatory quarantine period once he returns.
“I’m aware of the situation,” Pizarro said. “I’ll leave it up to the club who has the final say. They’ll decide what’s best for me and for the team.”
Inter Miami enters Sunday ’s game against the Union (7-2-4, 25 points) coming off their worst loss of the season, a 4-1 defeat to the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday at Inter Miami CF Stadium.
After admittedly not being as focused as they could’ve been versus the Red Bulls, Inter Miami understand they’ll have to be locked in from the start of the game against a Union team that’s tied for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Inter Miami lost to Philadelphia, 2-1, in their second game of the MLS is Back tournament in July.
“We let the match go,” Nico Figal said about Inter Miami’s loss to the Red Bulls. “It’s a result that could be a little misleading. In the match, I think we were better than the rival but we committed some mistakes because we weren’t focused. For the next match, we need to improve defensively and be more efficient in the attack. Being able to keep a clean sheet is going to be important.”