MIAMI — The October FIFA window comes a most unfortunate time for Inter Miami, which could be missing as many as five players for the regular-season home finale Oct. 11 against Atlanta United, including Golden Boot leader Lionel Messi, Rodrigo De Paul and Telasco Segovia.

Argentina’s national team is playing Venezuela in a friendly match Oct. 10 at Hard Rock Stadium and then traveling to Chicago for an Oct. 13 match against Puerto Rico.

Messi and De Paul are on the roster the Argentine soccer federation announced on Monday. Messi’s face is on billboards and advertisements for both games, and he and De Paul recorded a promotional video.

Segovia is expected to play for Venezuela. Unlike other leagues around the world, which take a pause during FIFA international windows, Major League Soccer plays through, so players have to choose between club and country. Although the Venezuela and Inter Miami games are both in South Florida, it is highly unlikely Messi, De Paul and Segovia would play on back-to-back days.

Asked Friday whether the trio would be available for the Atlanta game, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano was noncommittal, saying only: “This is something we’re discussing. You’ll find out.”

Other players likely to be missing are Fafa Picault (Haiti) and Ian Fray (Jamaica), leaving Miami with a severely depleted roster for a game with playoff implications.

The Supporters’ Shield is slipping out of reach for Inter Miami, which is in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with three regular-season games remaining heading into the home match Saturday against New England (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).

Miami has 56 points and a game in hand, but even if it wins all three remaining games, it might not catch the Philadelphia Union (63 points), which can clinch the Supporters’ Shield for best regular-season record with a victory Saturday against New York City FC.

Although not repeating as Supporters’ Shield champions would be disappointing for Inter Miami, the bigger prize, MLS Cup, would still be attainable.

The race to the Cup final would be much easier with home-field advantage, which is granted to the top four teams in each conference. Miami is clinging to that fourth-place spot.

Miami wasted an opportunity to gain three points last weekend with a 5-3 home loss to the Chicago Fire. It was the most goals Inter Miami has conceded in 54 matches this season.

“The loss the other day is a loss we did not expect, and I made it clear what went wrong, from my point of view. … I told the players when as a coach you have to make three changes at halftime, you have to admit you made a mistake,” Mascherano said, explaining that he felt he employed the wrong game plan.

“The players may feel when they are taken out at halftime that it’s a reflection on them, but it was only a reflection on me. … When I was a player, I liked when a coach was honest and admitted he made a mistake. When I make a mistake, I have no trouble saying it. We are all human.”

He said the coaching staff felt that with the congested schedule and tired legs with games 72 hours apart, stacking the midfield would be a way to avoid lapses in transition, where the team has often been vulnerable. Instead, the Fire scored two of its three first-half goals on counterattacks and also clogged spaces around Messi.

“Every time they came out of high pressure, a world of space would open up for them and they attacked us with a lot of people and outnumbered us,” Mascherano said. “That is something we must, and will, correct.”

It also hurt that Inter Miami missed a load of scoring chances. Miami took 24 shots against Chicago, including a Messi shot that clanked off the post, two missed Messi free kicks and a Tadeo Allende shot that hit the crossbar.

“We had 24 chances, and are normally a very effective shooting team, but in that game, it didn’t work out for us,” Mascherano said. “The way to bounce back from that is to win the next game. It’s not in our hands anymore as far as finishing in first place, so all we can do is work hard, beat New England, and earn three more points.”

Defender Gonzalo Lujan added: “We had played a lot of games in a row in a short period of time, which probably affected us, and we wound up losing a tough game. But we keep on the same path to keep earning points and focus on what’s ahead. As long as there’s still possibilities, we will keep fighting.”

New England, meanwhile, is eliminated from playoff contention, but coach Pablo Moreira praised his team’s fighting spirit. The Revolution is coming off a 2-0 win against Atlanta in which former Inter Miami forward Leo Campana scored one of the goals. Campana has seven goals in 22 games for New England. Carles Gil has 10 goals in 32 games.

Moreira said his team is looking forward to the challenge of facing Miami.

“Obviously, a very, very good team, very, very good players, they’ve had a very good season,” Moreira said. “They’ve had a jam-packed week, but they have grit. They’re not guys who are going to take games off. We respect them, but our focus is on ourselves. You want to play against the best and beat the best.”

Notes

Inter Miami will host a postgame ceremony to celebrate the legendary career Sergio Busquets, who is retiring at the end of the season … In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Inter Miami teamed with Baptist Health to produce a limited-edition T-shirt. For each shirt purchased, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Baptist Health Foundation directly supporting Baptist’s mission to provide personal care to each patient from diagnosis to survivorship and beyond. The shirts will be available at the stadium team store by Gate 3 through the end of October.

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