Here’s what you need to know about Inter Miami home game vs Columbus Crew on Saturday
The playoff line is looming with two months left in the regular season, and Inter Miami is breathing down the Columbus Crew’s neck in the Eastern Conference standings, making Saturday’s matchup at DRV PNK Stadium even more compelling.
It is a game featuring two teams going in opposite directions. Inter Miami is on a roll with just one loss in the past nine games and moved up to 10th place with four wins and four ties during that stretch. The defending MLS champion Crew, meanwhile, has seven losses in its past eight games and dropped to eighth place.
The top seven teams make the playoffs. Columbus has 27 points with 11 games to go and Miami has 26 points with 13 games to go.
Despite the Crew’s recent struggles, Miami coach Phil Neville and his players are not taking the game lightly. They are well aware that Columbus has a talented roster that has been decimated by injuries, and at least four of the six starters who were missing in their 3-2 loss to Orlando City last week are expected to return on Saturday (8 p.m., My33, CW34, UniMas).
Forward Gyasi Zardes, winger Luis Diaz, defender Josh Williams and midfielder Liam Fraser could all be back in the lineup.
“They are the reigning champions, and you don’t go from champions to being a real poor team overnight,” Neville said. “They’ve had horrendous bad luck with injuries. They have a coach [Caleb Porter] who has won MLS a couple of times. They are a serial winning team with a serial winning coach.
“When I watch their games, even though they’re not in the best run in this moment in time, I see a really good team that could easily be at the top of the league with the quality and roster they’ve got. It could only just take one result to turn things around. This is going to be one of our toughest games, and we’ll have to play our absolute best.”
Defender Kelvin Leerdam appeared in three MLS Cup finals with the Seattle Sounders and knows the league well. He considers the Crew extremely dangerous and knows the challenges Argentine midfielder Lucas Zelerayan poses as he scored two goals and had an assist against the Sounders in the 2020 MLS Cup final.
“At the start of the season I had Columbus at the top of my list,” Leerdam said. “We cannot underestimate them. Zelarayan is of the better players in the league. They will try to find a way to get out of the situation they’re in. For us, we want to keep the momentum going. We have to be aware it’s going to be a very, very difficult game.”
Zelarayan scored eight goals and had nine assists last season and has seven goals this season. He is a set piece specialist, and this season has scored five direct free kick goals, second most in MLS since 2003.
“Zalarayan is a real key player for them,” Neville said. “His performance against Cincinnati and Orlando was fantastic. A real top player. A little like [Alejandro] Pozuelo for Toronto. We have to be really mindful of his quality and his quality from set plays. We have to concentrate and not do anything silly in and around the box.”
Miami midfielder Lewis Morgan said as the team has gained confidence the past six weeks it has transitioned from worrying about how to counter opponents’ gameplans to how to impose its own.
“We’re trying to make other teams worry about us,” Morgan said. “We’re on a good run last nine or 10 games, so there’s no need to make wholesale changes based on how another team plays, especially not at our home stadium.”
One reason for the recent success has been a new formation that has Morgan playing the more defensive right wing back position instead of the attacking winger.
“Any change is tough, comes with a transition period, but the team’s been successful with me playing there, so I still try to bring as much energy as I can,” he said. “One thing I’ve got is a good engine, so I think maybe that’s one of the reasons the managers put me there. I do still feel I can get in attacking areas while of course there’s more of a defensive responsibility but by and large it’s been a successful transition so far.”
Leerdam said another key to Miami’s improved play has been the addition of Dutch goalkeeper Nick Marsman, who played on the Netherlands youth national team with Leerdam, a Netherlands-Suriname dual national. The two remain good friends.
Leerdam, who played in the Dutch league before joining Seattle, said Marsman was the only goalkeeper with whom he exchanged jerseys until he exchanged with the Crew’s Dutch keeper Eloy Room.
“I’ve known Nick a long time and he’s a very good football player, I would say, instead of goalkeeper,” Leerdam said. “He’s very good with his feet and that gives us an extra option in building up because as you notice, teams don’t press a lot like they did at the beginning of the season because he’s an extra player for us and they won’t find an option, so they wait a little bit more with pressing so that gives us a lot more confidence in building up. We control games a little better now.
“Obviously, he’s a goalkeeper and needs to make big saves and that’s what he’s been doing. I’m happy for him. He’s like part of my family.”
NEVILLE ON RONALDO
Another game Neville will have his eye on Saturday is Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut with Manchester United. He was a teammate of the Portuguese star when he first played for the club in 2003.
Neville recalled: “I remember it really well. When you’ve played football for Manchester United there are certain things that happen that you know a star is born. (Wayne) Rooney’s first game he scores a hat trick, you know straight away he’s going to be a superstar. Ronaldo comes on at Old Trafford first game of the season, probably not many people knew about him and he lights the whole place up. The stepovers, dribbles the skills. You can have players who come into Old Trafford and just have good debuts and then you have players who come in and are the real superstars and introduce themselves like Ronaldo did. (Ryan) Giggs, (Eric) Cantona, Rooney, (David) Beckham did it. Cristiano came on and dazzled and lit up Old Trafford. He became a Manchester United player for the rest of his life. Everyone’s looking forward to the game on Saturday against Newcastle.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 2:16 PM.