Lionel Messi waves to fans outside the Argentina team hotel in New Jersey on his 37th birthday while fans also took over Times Square in New York. . For many players, these tournaments are career highlights as they look forward to the feeling of representing their country in some of the fiercest contests.
These absences not only hurt his team during the window when players are away, Martino says, but it hurts the team in the long term because Miami can't sign more national-team-quality players. "Obviously I had never seen this -- in Europe, if there is a FIFA window the league shuts down because if you take away even one player from the team, then it is an unfair advantage in the competition," Neville told ESPN."In a FIFA window, if you've got players, even one player away, then it's an unfair advantage."
"Why play through Copa América? That's a fair question," he told ESPN."We have historically played through such competitions. Last year we played through the. This year with Copa América being here, we have to play through it as well so we can maximize the MLS match dates within the footprint of our season. Is it ideal? Certainly not.
"I think it's something the league can improve. I know we have a lot of games, a very tight schedule, but in my opinion you want to have the best players on TV and in the league whenever each team is playing," he said."Losing your best players every three for two or more games because they are traveling the world while the league is still going on is hard. It's not good for the league.