Overview

• MLS enforced its All-Star participation rule by suspending Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba for missing the mid-July exhibition without prior approval.
• Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano publicly criticized the league’s consistency after his side drew 0-0 with FC Cincinnati in the stars’ absence.
• Commissioner Don Garber defended the penalty as a necessary enforcement to uphold the All-Star Game’s commercial value and league regulations.
• Inter Miami has reconfigured its starting lineup and tactics in matches since the suspension to cope without its leading scorers.
• Transfer rumors linking Messi to Como FC were swiftly dismissed by club president Mirwan Suwarso, who deemed them “impossible.”