MIAMI — The World Cup is over, but Major League Soccer kicked right back into action after a seven-week hiatus with the marketing campaign slogan “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here,” aiming to leverage the momentum of the World Cup to the U.S. domestic league.

Inter Miami makes its return Wednesday night with a home game at Nu Stadium against the Chicago Fire, which just added legendary Polish striker Robert Lewandowski to its roster.

Lewandowski, 37, is one of the best forwards of his generation and came to the Fire after playing for Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona. He has 629 career goals and 159 assists and will replace Hugo Cuypers, who leads the MLS Golden Boot race with 13 goals and is leaving for Liga MX club Monterrey.

Miami will be without captain Lionel Messi and midfielder Rodrigo De Paul, who are taking a vacation after their grueling run to the World Cup final with Argentina, which ended in a 1-0 defeat to Spain on Sunday.

World Cup players typically take off two to three weeks before returning to their clubs, which means Messi and De Paul might miss the next three MLS games against Chicago, Montreal and Columbus and return for the Leagues Cup opener August 5 against Mexican club Atletico de San Luis.

Messi spent a day at home in South Florida and then flew with his family to Rosario, Argentina, arriving early Tuesday morning. He is expected to spend time with his father, Jorge, who was undergoing medical treatment for an unspecified illness and was unable to travel to the World Cup.

Tens of thousands of Argentines gathered around Buenos Aires’ Obelisk on Sunday to cheer the national team, applauding the Albiceleste’s effort and chanting: “Gracias iguales.” (Thanks just the same). Fans greeted Messi with signs and flags when his private jet arrived from Fort Lauderdale.

“The World Cup ended just hours ago, and what they need now more than anything is to rest, to be with their loved ones, in their homes,” Inter Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos said of Messi and De Paul Tuesday before training. “And to take advantage of the delirium of Argentine soccer because the scene at the Obelisk [Sunday] was incredible, as if they won the championship and that is marvelous. They will take whatever time they need.”

Asked if they would be back for Leagues Cup, Hoyos replied: “We’ll see.”

Inter Miami sits in second place in the Eastern Conference with 19 games remaining in the regular season. The Chicago Fire is in third place.

Miami won four consecutive MLS games before the World Cup break, but allowed nine goals during that stretch, including four in a wild 6-4 victory over the Philadelphia Union in the final game before the hiatus. The teams were tied 4-4 at halftime, which was an MLS record. Luis Suarez and De Paul scored late goals for Miami.

Without Messi, who has scored 12 goals and assisted on seven, Inter Miami will likely turn to German Berterame to partner with Suarez up top. Berterame has seven goals so far this season and Suarez has six.

Asked how he planned to replace Messi and De Paul, Hoyos said: “Replacing extraordinary players like the ones we have … well, they’re irreplaceable. We have players and this week they have to start manifesting themselves without two of our biggest players, but I think they are capable of having an excellent game.”

Miami’s back line might be missing Maxi Falcon and Gonzalo Lujan, who trained apart from the team on Tuesday with undisclosed injuries.

Whoever starts will likely have a difficult task as Lewandowski is expected to make his Fire debut on Wednesday after the team’s home game against Vancouver last Thursday was rescheduled due to the Canadian wildfires.

“It shows the growth of MLS having a player like Lewandowski,” Hoyos said. “Bringing those players who make a difference. We will try to enjoy it, but hopefully it won’t be his day and it will be ours.”

The Fire’s three World Cup players are back in action: goalkeeper Chris Brady (USA), defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi (South Africa) and defender Joel Waterman (Canada).

The biggest questions are whether Lewandowski will start and how many minutes he will play.

“We’re going to see on Wednesday night where we are,” said Fire coach Gregg Berhalter. “I have a lot of respect for Inter Miami. They have a great squad. They will most likely be missing a couple players in [Lionel] Messi and Rodrigo De Paul, although you never know with Messi and Rodrigo De Paul. I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow played in the game.

“For us, we just want to keep getting better. One thing I can tell you about Robert is tremendous work rate. When you think about a guy coming into the team, who jet lagged all last week, and he’s pushing the guys in training, we are doing fitness stuff, he’s pushing that and doing extra work after. You can see why he’s been a pro and why he’s scored more goals than anyone in Europe in the last 15 years because he’s an absolute pro, on the field. In the training sessions he’s been high quality, scoring goals and he looks like a great player.”

Berhalter said Inter Miami poses challenges with or without Messi and De Paul.

“They have a great roster, and Messi is a top player in the league. So obviously he makes any team that much better, but they have great players, and they are champions for a reason because they have a good mind-set, good mentality, they compete,” Berhalter said.

Notes: Without Messi in the lineup, tickets for the match were available for $48 from TicketMaster and for less than $20 on the secondary market as of Tuesday afternoon … Inter Miami facilities (Florida Blue Training Center, Nu Stadium and Inter Miami CF Stadium) were utilized by 13 national teams this summer, including 11 who played in the World Cup.

Nations that trained or played at Inter Miami facilities since June 1: Argentina, Cape Verde, Colombia, England, France, Haiti, New Zealand, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Peru, Scotland, Turkey, Venezuela.

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