With Lionel Messi’s third straight loss, Inter Miami began a difficult 1-1 draw against New York City FC on Saturday with an injury-time goal from Argentinian Tomás Avilés and continued to dream of qualifying. Making it to the MLS playoffs is tough.

Inter conceded the first goal in the 77th minute after a great move by Uruguayan player Santi Rodríguez left the stands of the DRV PNK stadium in Fort Lauderdale (outside Miami) silent.

Young midfielder Tomás Avilés equalized at 90+5 with a header from a corner and Inter could have even claimed three points thanks to Honduran David Ruiz’s shot off the crossbar two minutes later.

With this draw, Inter takes 13th place in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, 4 points behind Montreal, who holds 9th place, the last team to qualify for the knockout round.

The team led by Gerardo Martino has four games left to play in this regular period, one more than Montreal, but there are doubts about whether they can recover Messi and Spaniard Jordi Alba, injured. in the hamstring or not. return effort.

The Argentine star missed Wednesday’s US Open Cup final which Inter lost to Houston Dynamo.

The physical condition of the 36-year-old star from Rosario is still a mystery. ‘Tata’ Martino has assured that he does not suffer any injuries and attributes his problem to discomfort caused by scarring from an old injury on his right leg.

This Saturday, Martino confirmed that Messi has a chance to return before the end of the season and said he is feeling his condition improving.

“We play match after match, if we didn’t take risks for the final, it would be much less now. If (on Wednesday) against Chicago we take the risk, we will be eliminated,” he continued.

“He is training on the field, different from the group but he feels better and better,” the coach explained. “Today I can’t say he will miss the game against Chicago because he is getting better and better in training.”