Messi missed Wednesday's US Open Cup final loss to Houston as well as last week's league match at Orlando due to the injury that has bothered him since mid-September.
Without Lionel Messi, Inter Miami's MLS playoff chances took a hit on Saturday as the two teams drew 1-1 at home against New York City FC. Meanwhile, FC Cincinnati earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a victory at Toronto, and Nashville clinched a playoff spot.
Messi missed Wednesday's US Open Cup final loss to Houston as well as last week's league match at Orlando due to the injury that has bothered him since mid-September.
Miami appeared to be running out of ideas without the Argentine and his former Barcelona teammate Jordi Alba, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury.
After a mediocre performance, Santiago Rodriguez's outstanding individual goal for New York gave them the lead in the 77th minute.
The Uruguayan intercepted a long pass from Tayvon Grey and twisted while eluding two Miami players before slamming a shot into Drake Callender's near post.
Throughout the entire 90 minutes, Miami had failed to manage a shot on goal, but in the fifth minute of stoppage time, defender Tomas Aviles rose to head in a corner from Robert Taylor.
David Ruiz raced into the box for the home team and came agonisingly close to scoring a dramatic late winner, but his shot from close range rebounded off the underside of the bar.
With a game in hand over the Canadian squad, Miami is in 13th place in the East, four points behind ninth-placed Montreal, who hold the last playoff position.
Messi has been working out separately from the team, according to Miami's head coach Gerardo Martino, who said that he is getting fitter but is still questionable for Wednesday's game against Chicago.
He is training on the pitch apart from the group, but he is improving steadily, according to Martino.
We will assess him on Tuesday because we are travelling to Chicago. But we won't take any kind of chance. The player will be removed from the game if it is determined after speaking with the player and the doctors that the risk is still present.
"But I can't say today that he is out of the Chicago game because he is training better and better, and there is nothing left to do but evaluate him day by day," he continued.
In seventh position, NYCFC sits a point in front of Montreal. when drawing 2-2 at Vancouver, Wayne Rooney's D.C. United is tied with Montreal on points when Mateusz Klich of Poland's national team scored the equaliser in the 62nd minute.
As a result, Nashville, which drew 0-0 with Seattle, took the eighth Eastern Conference first-round playoff position.
Cincinnati had a great night as it won the Supporters' Shield for the best regular season record after defeating Toronto 3-2 to lock up the top postseason seed.
The Supporters' Shield is Cincinnati's first trophy since it entered the Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2019, a year after winning the second-tier USL championship.
Brandon Vazquez, a striker for the USA national team, scored twice from close range to give Cincinnati a 2-0 lead over bottom-place team Toronto in the East.
If Cincinnati was considering winning a trophy, they were shocked when Toronto rallied before halftime thanks to two goals from Jonathan Osorio.
Aaron Boupendza's left-footed finish in the 72nd minute, though, secured the victory and Cincinnati's first MLS championship after superb play from playmaker Luciano Acosta.
Cincinnati had the worst overall record in the MLS in each of their first three seasons, but they will now have home-field advantage for the playoffs and, should they advance, the MLS Cup final.
