Everything you need to know about Inter Miami’s must-win home finale vs. FC Cincinnati
It figures that a tropical storm is headed to South Florida with wind and thunderstorms likely on Sunday, the day of Inter Miami’s regular-season finale at home against FC Cincinnati.
Few things have gone as planned for Inter Miami’s inaugural season, from the stadium site to a drawn-out coaching search to the pandemic to late arrivals of marquee players to injuries to rain delays. So, it hardly comes as a surprise that the team may have to play its most critical game of the year in sloppy weather.
Miami must win Sunday (3:30 p.m., MyTV 33) to have a chance at one of the two remaining playoff spots. A victory, combined with help from three other games, would clinch one of the 10 Eastern Conference berths.
Inter 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.
A victory would give Miami 24 points, but Montreal and Chicago could finish with 26 points with wins and Atlanta could end with 25 points with a win. All matches on Sunday’s MLS “Decision Day” are being played at 3:30 p.m.
The play-in round of the playoffs begins Nov. 20.
“We know the only thing we need to do is win our game, anything short of that won’t be good enough,” said winger Lewis Morgan, the team leader in goals and assists. “We don’t totally control our destiny. We do need a couple of favors from elsewhere, but we just need to focus on ourselves and try to put ourselves in the best position possible and that’s by taking care of our business here at home against Cincinnati.”
Morgan said that while the players were disappointed to lose points with back-to-back losses, they were lucky other teams also faltered, keeping their chances alive.
Sunday’s game looks winnable on paper. FC Cincinnati is in last place in the conference at 4-11-14, has been eliminated from playoff contention and has scored a league-low 11 goals while allowing 34.
“I am sure at the start of the season FC Cincinnati had aspirations for themselves and I’m sure they’ll be hurting that they didn’t make the playoffs, so they’re not going to come here and roll over and give us the three points, so we expect a tough matchup against a good team,” Morgan said. “Although the results haven’t gone their way this season, we know they’re dangerous and have good players.”
Cincinnati is led by Japanese forward Yuya Kubo with three goals and California native Brandon Vasquez with two goals.
Miami is stacked with attackers with national team experience – Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina), Blaise Matuidi (France), Lewis Morgan (Scotland), Rodolfo Pizarro (Mexico), Brek Shea (USA) – but has struggled to score this season with 23 goals over 22 games.
Higuain, the league’s highest-paid player at $7 million, has shown his quality in the eight games since joining the team, but has yet to score a goal from the field of play. His only goal in an Inter Miami shirt is the spectacular game-winning free kick against New York Red Bulls.
Asked Thursday if he feels frustration and pressure to score, Higuain replied: “That is the life of a striker.” He said he has managed that pressure his entire career, gets “angry” at himself when he doesn’t score, and realizes fans and media judge him on how many goals he scores. But he has been around long enough to know that scoring spells come and go.
Higuain will draw from his vast experience with the Argentine national team, River Plate, Real Madrid, Napoli, Juventus, Milan, and Chelsea to help inspire his Inter Miami teammates on Sunday.
“I had experience in many important matches before, which I hope can help out this weekend as we play for a spot in the playoffs,” Higuain said. “Beyond my experience, the team has a lot of experience from other people. Matuidi is a World Cup winner. Pizarro has been a champion in Mexico, Wil Trapp has played in big games with Columbus, Diego Alonso has been champion in Mexico as a manager. Hopefully, between us we can form a solid base and we can clinch the qualification. Our dream is still intact, and we are chasing it.”
Higuain said he is still getting acclimated to his new team and league.
“I have to understand my new teammates, the new teammates have to understand me. I have to understand the coach’s ideas. I have to understand the new league, the team’s training methods. It takes more time to adapt with everything being new.”
Coach Diego Alonso is pleased with Higuain’s contributions so far and expects the goals to follow.
“We he needs to continue to do is insist, work, look for movements, get to know his teammates,” Alonso said. “He keeps making better passes each game, we get to know him better and he gets to know his teammates better. We keep finding better routes to generate scoring chances for him, either from direct or indirect situations, through combination plays or other ways to put him in advantageous spots.”
Morgan refused to make excuses for the team’s lack of scoring, or for their losses. He shrugged off the suggestion that COVID-19 schedule interruptions were in any way to blame.
“It’s obviously been a season that’s had its challenges, but we can’t sit here and say we’ve had exceptional circumstances because every team’s dealing with it,” Morgan said. “There’s teams in the Western Conference who have yet to play six or seven games (due to COVID-19 cancellations), so there’s been hurdles in our way and we wish we had navigated them better but I’m not one for making excuses and saying `Oh, well, all these things have happened and that’s why we are where we are. Excuses would fall on deaf ears.’’’
And so, it comes down to 90 minutes on Sunday. Win, and possibly advance. Lose, and the season is over.
“There’s massive pressure, I wouldn’t downplay it, but pressure’s what you want because that means there’s something at stake,” Morgan said.
“We’ve got pressure from ourselves internally, pressure from outside and the fans and we want to make them proud too. So, yeah, we’ve got a lot on our shoulders, but we hope to use all that energy to drive us on and get the victory.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 1:17 PM.