Pressure is on Inter Miami, Gonzalo Higuain as team faces must-win home game on Sunday
Inter Miami’s playoff hopes come down a must-win home finale Sunday against last-place FC Cincinnati. A loss or a tie, and the team’s inaugural season is over.
Nobody is more aware of the pressure than Gonzalo Higuain, the team’s most famous and expensive player, who has been saddled with high expectations his entire career.
Asked on Thursday how frustrated and hungry he is after scoring just one goal -- a free kick -- in eight games with the team, Higuain said: “I am used to playing at the highest level and feeling that pressure. Clearly, when I’m unable to score, I’m not sure if frustration is the exact word, it’s more anger. I always get angry with myself when I can’t score or get assists.
“I have lived this my whole life and what keeps me calm is knowing I had stages in my career when I didn’t score and then others when I scored 30, 40 goals in a season. Unfortunately, with the No. 9 position, the public and media will evaluate your success or failure not by how you play the game, but if you score or not. That’s the life of a striker. I don’t suffer too much from those comments. But clearly, I was signed help the team’s quality. Although I haven’t scored as many goals as I would have liked, the team is playing better and hopefully we can finish with a win Sunday and make the playoffs.”
Calculating Miami’s chances of making the playoffs is almost as complicated as tabulating the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Heading into Sunday’s game (3:30 p.m. MyTV 33), five teams are battling for two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Miami needs a win, and help from a few other teams, to earn a spot.
Miami (6-13-3, 21 points) sits in 12th place behind No. 9 Montreal Impact (7-13-2, 23 points), No. 10 Chicago Fire (5-9-8, 23 points), and No. 11 Atlanta United (6-12-4, 22 points). D.C. United is still in the mix at No. 13 with a 5-11-6 record and 21 points.
With a win, Miami would have 24 points in the standings; but that, alone, won’t be enough to secure a berth because Montreal and Chicago would finish with 26 points with wins on Sunday, and Atlanta could end with 25 points with a win.
Two of the following three things must also happen for Miami to advance to the playoffs: Chicago must lose or tie against New York City FC. Montreal must lose or tie against D.C. United. Atlanta must lose or tie the Columbus Crew.
Defender Nico Figal (injured leg) is expected to miss Sunday’s game, but Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and Andres Reyes will be back from yellow-card suspension. Brek Shea missed the past two games after being injured in a home accident, but returned to practice and is available Sunday.
Note: Midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro, who missed four games while with the Mexican national team, was called up again for two games in mid-November. Miami coach Diego Alonso said if the team makes the playoffs, they will then address the schedule conflict with Pizarro.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 4:44 PM.