Revived Inter Miami set to face shaky Crew

Inter Miami might be returning to form at the right time and it's no surprise that Lionel Messi is leading the way.

Messi scored two goals with an assist when Inter Miami broke a four-match winless streak (0-2-2) with a 4-2 victory against CF Montreal on Wednesday.

Miami (7-3-5, 26 points) now will play host to the struggling Columbus Crew (7-2-7, 28 points) on Saturday before beginning Club World Cup play against Al Ahly of Egypt on June 14.

"These kinds of situations also end up strengthening you as a group, so hopefully we can take this as something that makes us stronger for the future," Miami coach Javier Mascherano.

Messi scored the first and fourth goals vs. Montreal and set up the first of two goals by Luis Suarez to make it 2-0.

"He makes everything look easy," Mascherano said of Messi. "He has accustomed us to that at this stage of his career. ... That's the player that we have to follow because he shows us the way to be able to compete in a very good way."

Miami defender Jordi Alba will be out at least two weeks with a muscle injury and defenders Gonzalo Lujan and Toto Aviles also are unavailable vs. the Crew. All three were injured Wednesday.

The Crew have lost their way. Their last win on May 3 over Charlotte FC by a 4-2 score pushed them into a two-point lead in the Eastern Conference. A five-match winless streak (0-4-1) now has them in fourth, five points behind the first-place Philadelphia Union.

Backup Crew goaltender Nicholas Hagen has allowed five goals in the past two matches playing for the injured Patrick Schulte (oblique) but he's been under siege, needing to make 12 saves in those matches.

"This season, we do a good job defensively," Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. "But the last few games, we are a bit average, not in term of the consistency to defend (but) in terms of key moments."

The Crew have allowed the first goal in four of the past five matches.

-- Field Level Media