Inter Miami midfielder Blaise Matuidi has been named as a starter in the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 18 of the 2021 season. The all-action midfielder earned Team of the Week honors after his stellar performance in the 2-1 home win over Nashville SC on Sunday, Aug. 8, in which he provided the assist for the team’s first goal in the match and finished with a 95.5% pass completion rate. It was the Frenchman’s first assist of the 2021 Major League Soccer (MLS) season. With Matuidi’s inclusion this week, Inter Miami has now had a player named to the MLS Team of the Week in each of the past three weeks.
After joining Inter Miami in Aug. 2020, the World-Cup winning midfielder has been a regular fixture in the side, making 31 regular season appearances, and one MLS Cup Playoffs appearance in the Club’s historic inaugural campaign in 2020. So far in 2021, Matuidi has played in 16 regular season matchups, 15 as a starter, registering one assist and totalling 1,111 minutes on the pitch.Â
Matuidi is the seventh Inter Miami player to feature in the MLS Team of the Week this season: defender Nicolás Figal and midfielder Federico HiguaÃn were selected in Week 2 after the the team’s 1-2 victory over the Philadelphia Union on April 24, defender Ryan Shawcross was part of the starting XI for Week 3 after playing a crucial role in securing the team’s first clean sheet of the season in the scoreless draw against Nashville on May 2, winger Lewis Morgan was named to the bench for Week 4 after netting the equalizing goal against Atlanta United to tie the match 1-1 on May 9, striker Gonzalo HiguaÃn was named as a starter for Week 17 after scoring a brace to help the team overcome CF Montréal 2-1 on July 31 and left-back Kieran Gibbs was named as a starter in Week 17 after netting the team’s equalizer in the 1-1 draw on the road against Orlando City SC on Aug. 4.
