Messi joins group training with Inter Miami, another step toward his return after ankle injury

FLORIDA: Lionel Messi returned to group training with Inter Miami on Wednesday, more than six weeks after the Argentina captain left the Copa America final with a badly sprained right ankle.

There is still no official timetable for when Messi, the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, will play again for Inter Miami — which has the best record in Major League Soccer so far this season. Inter Miami visits Chicago on Saturday, then doesn't return to MLS play until a Sept. 14 match with Philadelphia. If Messi doesn't play this weekend, that means he'd have two more weeks to continue rehabbing before returning to game action.

Messi was not selected by Argentina to play in World Cup qualifiers in early September.

“To see him on the field is great,” Inter Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender said after the Wednesday workout. “I know he's been getting treatment every single day, training every single day. He's dealt with things before. He's been there, done that and he's still doing it at the highest level. To see him recoup from the kind of injury we saw at Copa America and be available for us this season, it goes to show the quality of care we have here.”

Messi has 12 goals and 13 assists in 12 MLS games with Inter Miami this season. He's missed 14 of the club's league matches, including each of the last eight either because he was playing for Argentina or recovering from the ankle injury. Also missed by Messi in that span: all four of Inter Miami's matches in Leagues Cup play, as the team tried to defend the trophy it won a year ago.

Messi last played on July 14, leaving in the second half of Argentina's win over Colombia in the Copa America final. He was dealing with leg issues throughout that tournament, plus left the field briefly in the first half of the final because of a left ankle issue — then got hurt again in the second half and had to leave for good.

If Messi doesn't play until the Sept. 14 match, he'll have had exactly two months to recover and rehab plus gear up for the MLS playoffs. Inter Miami is the only team so far to have clinched a playoff berth and is currently four points clear — with a match in hand — over the LA Galaxy for the best overall record in MLS.

“To be able to get him back," Callender said, "it's going to be huge.”