Rodolfo Pizarro the hero again with two goals in 3-1 Inter Miami win over Toronto FC
Rodolfo Pizarro had not smiled much this season after struggling to find his form, getting injured, being benched and left off the Mexican national team roster for a few games. But his electric moves and trademark Joker face are back.
Three days after delivering the stoppage-time game-winning goal against the Chicago Fire — his first goal of the season and first since October 2020 — the Mexican playmaker was the hero again, scoring two goals in a 3-1 home victory over last-place Toronto FC on Saturday night. He was voted Man of the Match.
After losing six games in a row, falling to last place and being written off by critics, Miami is on a roll with four wins, two ties and a loss in the past seven games — including four consecutive home victories.
“We are a different team than what we were one month ago, two months ago,” coach Phil Neville said. “We’re beginning to trust each other, and it does feel good. We want to bottle that.”
Each time Pizarro scored, he celebrated by stretching out his smile with his fingers into the Joker face as the DRV PNK Stadium crowd of 14,897 roared.
The only time Pizarro was unhappy was when Neville subbed him out for Indiana Vassilev in the 67th minute. Pizarro went straight to the bench without shaking hands with Neville or Vassilev, offering just a nod from a distance.
Following the game, Neville put his arm around Pizarro and the two had a long conversation at midfield as the rest of the team celebrated.
Neville said Pizarro wanted to stay in the game, felt he had more scoring chances in him.
“He wanted the match ball, he wanted to score goals,” Neville said. “He’s obviously been through an awful lot, and he felt it was a game where he could have gotten more chances. What we said to him is `It’s a team game.’ Indiana probably didn’t deserve to be left out. Blaise Matuidi didn’t deserve to be left out. But it’s a team game, and we’re showing the depth of our squad.”
The coaching staff has worked hard of late to build team chemistry and spirit on a squad that played selfishly and disjointed earlier in the year.
Neville said he “liked his reaction, his anger to come off” because other times this season Pizarro was disappointed coming off after struggling to make an impact. Now he has “hunger in his eye to want to stay on the pitch and score goals. He has his confidence back. Three goals in two games tells me he’s getting better and better.”
In his postgame remarks after the Chicago game, Pizarro conceded that he had lost his confidence this season and “did not feel important,” but said he “flipped the switch” and felt like a different player the past few weeks.
He was back in the starting lineup on Saturday night and played like the designated player he is paid to be. His first goal came in the 15th minute. He collected a nice through ball from Gonzalo Higuain, cut in and knocked it past Toronto goalkeeper Quentin Westberg from close range.
Robbie Robinson made it 2-0 in the 35th minute on a left-footed shot after burning Toronto defender Omar Gonzalez with a slick fake move after getting a pass from Leandro Gonzalez Pirez. It is a move he has been working on in practice.
“I like that little scoop with the outside, it throws defenders off a lot,” Robinson said. “I had one saved off the line against Orlando. This one went in. Great feeling. I hope to get a lot more like that. I’ve been practicing that with my left because I’ve been cutting in on my right a lot and defenders are starting to see that and force me the other way.”
“That movement when he went past the defender is something we’ve worked hard on with him, that was his signature move,” Neville said. “Fake one way, go the other way. There’s more to come. He’s only playing at 60 percent, I think, in terms of his fitness, physicality and confidence. We’re only seeing a minute percentage of what that boy can do. His ability to go from defense to attack is breathtaking.”
Pizarro struck again just after halftime to give Miami a 3-0 lead. He picked up a Gonzalez Pirez ball on the run, got by defender Luke Singh and chipped a shot over Westberg’s head. Toronto’s only goal came on an own goal by Miami’s Kieran Gibbs, who made a poor clearance with his head.
Neville made a point to praise the back line of Christian Makoun, Gonzalez Pirez and Nico Figal.
With Saturday’s win, Miami improved to 6-9-4 and moved up to 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings, five points shy of the playoff line with 15 games remaining. The top seven make the playoffs.
“This league is a grind, a marathon,” Neville said. “The first half of the marathon we were lagging behind everyone. Now we’ve given ourselves a chance by getting some victories and getting ourselves in touching distance of those above us.”
The previous two Miami home wins came in stoppage time, leading Neville to say: “I would like us to win a game 3-0 and just enjoy the last six minutes of injury time and just have a bottle of water or a bottle of whatever and just relax.”
He came close to getting his wish.
“We were in control, even when we didn’t have possession,” Neville said. “I’m so proud of our players. There’s some tired limbs in there. They had to go again. Ultimately, 3-1 doesn’t do it justice. I honestly thought we should have been five, six with the chances we created. But we won the game. That’s all that matters. We’ve got to recover and go against Orlando (on the road Friday). We can’t get carried away.”
The game began with a moment of silence for former Fort Lauderdale Striker great Gerd Muller, who died last week. Due to the Miami Dolphins preseason game, the Inter Miami game was not shown live on My33. It will air on Sunday at 3 p.m.
This story was originally published August 21, 2021 at 11:33 PM.