The latest on Inter Miami defender Andres Reyes, who sustained a scary injury
Inter Miami defender Andres Reyes was evaluated at a local hospital and is back at the team hotel after sustaining a scary injury in the MLS is Back Tournament opening game against Orlando City Wednesday night.
Reyes did not spend the night at the hospital, according to Inter Miami chief operating officer Paul McDonough. He returned to the Swan and Dolphin Resort, where he is in isolation pending a COVID-19 test. Because Reyes left the league’s protective bubble, he must be retested before rejoining the group. McDonough said he will continue to be monitored and evaluated.
Reyes went down hard after a collision with Orlando forward Dom Dwyer in the 51st minute, shortly after Miami had taken a 1-0 lead. Dwyer’s elbow seemed to catch Reyes in the throat, and he immediately fell to the ground and began writhing in pain. He was carried off the field strapped to a stretcher as his teammates gathered to console him.
Inter Miami captain and goalkeeper Luis Robles said the team was “absolutely gutted” after the 2-1 loss. He felt Reyes’ injury and the loss was avoidable and blamed poor officiating by referee Rubiel Vazquez.
“I’ve played against Dom for years, and he’s a very talented forward and I understand his game. I have a lot of respect for him, and he’s scored many a goal on me, but I also know that he’s a very physical forward. If the referee is going to them the type of margin, rope to play that way, he’s going to be very impactful. You can see in the first half there were several moments where I felt that the fouls were very, very hard coming in from behind and yet, [Vazquez] continued to say they were soft fouls, and weren’t necessarily a foul and everyone on the field could see it.
“It had a massive impact on the rest of the game. Our defensive unit is already thin as it is, and for or us to lose a guy like Andres who was having a great game, that completely changed the complexion of the game. Again, I don’t even put that on Dom. I put that on the ref. Very poor officiating.”
Midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro came off the bench to replace Reyes and had an immediate impact. Asked why he didn’t start the game, coach Diego Alonso said Pizarro got knicked in practice and was still having slight pain before the game so Alonso chose not to start him.
Agudelo felt neither team was comfortable early on, but they had better combination plays in the second half. “It hurts. Everybody is pretty sad. To be up 1-0, to understand how hard we worked, and to give up a goal in stoppage time. It’s tough to come in and do a press conference after that.”
The game was seen by 492,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, the third-highest rated MLS regular-season telecast in three seasons. The top four markets were Orlando, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami.
Inter Miami’s next game is July 14 at 10:30 p.m. against the Philadelphia Union (TUDN). Their third game is July 20 at 9 a.m. against New York City FC (ESPN). Miami’s original Group A schedule was shuffled on Thursday after the league decided to send Nashville SC home due to nine positive COVID tests since the team’s arrival. The Chicago Fire was moved to Group B.
“We have to regroup because we have two group games left,” Robles said. “We have to look at how we can overcome some of these circumstances. This is why this organization invested in veterans such as ourselves because we already know as an expansion team it’s going to be a difficult year. The only way we can do it is to stick together and believe in what we’re building here. We have a great spirit, incredible locker room chemistry. On that foundation we can change this and start getting wins.”
In other tournament news, during the period from July 7-8, a total of 1,888 players, coaches, referees and staff were tested for COVID-19. Of that group, four tested positive, all from two clubs.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 8:58 AM.