Inter Miami offense continues to sputter in costly 1-0 road loss to Atlanta United
The storyline was a bit different on Wednesday, but for the third game in a row, the ending was the same for Inter Miami – a loss and a failed opportunity to gain ground in the playoff race.
This time, it wasn’t a lopsided loss. It was a heartbreaker on the road to Atlanta United on a 78th minute penalty kick by Josef Martinez after Leandro Gonzalez Pirez was called for a handball in the box.
Inter Miami’s defense – which had been rocked for nine goals over the previous two games – got back to its tenacious ways, bolstered by the return of Gonzalez Pirez from a one-game suspension. Atlanta was held scoreless from the field of play for 94 minutes in front of a home crowd of 42,519.
But Miami’s anemic offense, which has scored a league-low 25 goals, continued to sputter with seven total shots and none on target. Atlanta, by comparison, took 19 shots, seven on target. Miami has scored just one goal over the past three games and four over the past seven.
Despite the loss, coach Phil Neville said he was “not overly disappointed” with his team’s effort.
“We asked for certain things before the game and they delivered in all aspects,” Neville said. “We’ve had a sick feeling in our stomachs since the Nashville and Red Bulls games because of the way the results went, the goals we conceded, but tonight we saw a team we can be proud of. It was probably one of our best performances in terms of how they stuck to the game plan, the intensity was first-class. It was a good performance but without the final bit, without the reward.”
Miami had two outstanding chances in the first half but failed to capitalize on either one. They had only one true chance in the second half, late in the game by Rodolfo Pizarro.
Blaise Matuidi was in perfect position to shoot in the 14th minute, but Atlanta defender Miles Robinson of the U.S. national team made a textbook sliding tackle.
The most dangerous opportunity came in the 42nd minute after a slick sequence of passes in the box between Lewis Morgan, Matuidi and Kieran Gibbs, who sent a cross from the left to Robbie Robinson, waiting in front of the goal. Robinson struck with his left foot, it sailed wide, and he buried his head in his hands in frustration.
That image personified Miami’s attack much of this season.
“We need to be ruthless,” Neville said. “You think about the chance for Robbie and Rodolfo and maybe the one for Blaise, that’s three chances on the road in a stadium like this where they don’t give much away. You’re not going to come here and cut them open with five, six, seven, eight opportunities, but we created two or three outstanding chances where you need to just bang the ball in the back of the net. That’s been our downfall a lot this season, the (lack of) clinicalness in the final third.”
Atlanta also had good first-half chances by Martinez and Ezequiel Barco, but Miami’s back line held its ground.
Martinez finally scored the game winner on the penalty kick. Neville did not argue the call, saying it was “a 50-50 decision,” although he felt Gonzalez Pirez did not deliberately have his arm in the way.
“That was a tough one to take,” said Gibbs. “It was an improved performance over the last game, but still there is a lot more we can do. There were key moments in the game where we could have done better. I felt like we created enough chances and thought it was quite an exciting game until the decision to give a penalty...We’re running out of games, and hope we can get back to scoring goals sooner rather than later.”
With eight games to go, Miami remains in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 32 points off nine wins, five ties and 12 losses. Atlanta moved up to sixth place with 10 wins, nine ties and eight losses. The top seven make the playoffs.
Atlanta has been on a positive run since Gonzalo Pineda took over as coach six games ago after the departure of Gabriel Heinz. Before last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Philadelphia, Atlanta beat Orlando, Cincinnati and D.C. by a combined score of 10-2.
For the second game in a row, Miami was without two suspended starters. Center back Nico Figal missed his second game and captain/midfielder Gregore was also out for yellow card accumulation. Both will be available on Sunday for the road game against the Portland Timbers (5:30 p.m., FS1).
Despite vowing to be more disciplined, the yellow cards continued for Miami against Atlanta. Gonzalez Pirez, Matuidi, Gibbs and Jay Chapman all were cautioned.
The next four games are on the road for Inter Miami. The team flies from Atlanta to Portland on Thursday morning.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 10:26 PM.