Tata Martino dismisses talk of resting Luis Suarez against LA Galaxy on Sunday, despite star’s noticeable limp during Inter Miami’s 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake amid ongoing knee problem

Inter Miami coach Tata Martino declined to discuss resting Luiz Suarez for Sunday’s game against LA Galaxy, despite the forward’s ongoing battle with a knee problem.

Suarez walked with a noticeable limp in the late stages of the team’s 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake in the season opener on Wednesday.

The Uruguayan made his MLS debut and provided an assist, playing 90 minutes before being substituted in injury time.

The former Liverpool and Barcelona striker has made no secret of the fact that he finds it difficult to play regularly due to a knee problem that has affected the latter stages of his career.

But despite a grueling pre-season tour around the world and a lack of rest, Martino hinted he would not rotate for the weekend trip to California.

“Most of the changes we had to make were for physical reasons,” said the Miami coach

“Maybe we have to consider that, but not for the second game of the season. No no no.

‘We are just starting to compete. “Hopefully everyone will be well on Friday and whoever is ready will travel.”

Suárez finished the night with an assist that he registered in the 83rd minute and that helped set up Diego Gómez’s goal.

The Uruguayan almost ended up scoring a goal in his MLS debut, but he will surely regret sending his chance at point-blank range into the foot of Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath.

“I’ve been saying since we returned from Japan two weeks ago that we needed to have more training sessions together for them to rediscover their rhythm,” Martino said of Messi and Suarez.

“In their case they know each other well, but it takes them time to find that connection they had in Barcelona again.”

Despite not finding his way onto the scoreboard, Suarez didn’t seem too down after the match.

“I knew I was going to face tough competition (in MLS),” Suarez said through an interpreter after his first game in the league.

“And Inter Miami, being one of the favorites for the title, we knew that we were always going to play against everyone.”

Suarez and Miami will have another show of strength on Sunday when they make the trip across the country to California to take on the LA Galaxy.

‘I think we have to continue building week by week. Nico Freire didn’t play today, the midfielder that you may have all seen around here hasn’t joined yet, so first of all I would like us to have all our players as soon as possible. Surely Benja Cremaschi, Franco Negri, they really are players who within our structure (are important),’ Martino said about the match.

‘In a game like today’s where it seemed like we had to make 1 change and not five, having depth in the squad (is important). So we need to get results that allow us to get to a point where when we have everyone, we can think about maintaining our form.

‘In a game like today’s where it seemed like we had to make 1 change and not five, having depth in the squad (is important). So we need to get results that allow us to get to a point where when we have everyone, we can think about maintaining our form.

Because sometimes maintaining this form is linked to the starters and substitutes, and sometimes the substitutes worsen or improve the team’s performance. We need to find that when we make substitutions, the team’s performance must remain the same.

“Today was not like that, because the team did not get worse because of the changes, but because we started the second half badly and made many mistakes going back, but having a full squad always generates another type of confidence.” for absolutely everything.’