Inter Miami loses 3-1 at Chicago, but hangs onto playoff hopes with five games to go
Inter Miami’s quest for a playoff spot got tougher with a 3-1 road loss against the Chicago Fire on Saturday night.
The men in pink dropped their third consecutive road game and remain in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, two spots and five points short of the playoff line with five games to go. They reached as high as fifth place after a good late summer run, but the recent slide leaves them desperate for wins and likely reliant on help from other teams.
The 13th-place Fire was a team Miami was favored to beat, but Miami players looked out of sync much of the first half and had trouble connecting passes. The lone Inter Miami goal came on a 77th minute penalty kick by Gonzalo Higuain. The Argentine forward leads the team with 10 goals this season.
“I’m disappointed in the performance, the first half was unacceptable,” said Miami coach Phil Neville. “There was a real lack of quality. We looked nervous for the first time. It’s a big challenge for us now to release those shackles because we’re getting to that point where we can’t afford any more losses.”
Miami returns home for a critical game Tuesday against the Columbus Crew, which sits in the seventh and final playoff spot with 41 points. Inter Miami played the Crew on the road two weeks ago and lost 1-0.
“We have to win on Tuesday,” Neville said. “We have to win home games to have any chance of getting into the playoffs. Because we are playing Columbus twice in such a short space of time, we can’t allow them to take six points off us, so we had to come out with an equal three points each, and that’s not changed.”
Philadelphia (63 points) and Montreal (53) have clinched playoff berths. New York Red Bulls (50) and New York City FC (46) are comfortable in third and fourth place. Orlando City and Cincinnati are in fifth and sixth place with 42 points. New England (38) and Inter Miami (36) are battling to leapfrog Columbus.
“These players so desperately want to do well, they know what they have to do, and sometimes that weighs heavy on you,” Neville said. “We’ve hit a bad run at the wrong time. That’s not good at this point in the season. We’ve got to remain balanced, think about the next five games, there’s loads of points to play for. We know it’s probably going to go down to the last three or four games.”
Miami was hoping to end its road losing skid at Chicago, but the Fire took command of the game early.
The Fire, which went scoreless through the previous four games, ended its 440-minute drought in the 40th minute with a header by unmarked 18-year-old Colombian forward Jhon Duran. The ball deflected off Miami defender Kieran Gibbs and into the path of Duran, who sent it high to the upper right corner.
Chicago dominated much of the first half. Chicago had 69 percent possession through the first 30 minutes and finished the half with seven shots to four for Miami.
The Fire scored again in the 64th minute on a goal by Xherdan Shaqiri.
Higuain cut the deficit in half with his penalty kick and gave Miami life. Second-half subs Bryce Duke, Joevin Jones and Ari Lassiter injected the team with energy, but Miami lost the ball on the right sideline, the Fire counter attacked and Duran put the game away in the 87th minute.
Inter Miami’s defense was missing center back Damion Lowe, who injured his left knee in practice late in the week and did not travel. He is expected to miss Tuesday’s game as well, Neville said. The loss of Lowe is significant, as the Jamaican national team captain has been an anchor in back all season and emerged as a leader on and off the field.
Winger Coco Jean missed the game with an injured right knee. The Frenchman has been hampered by injuries since joining the team in July.
One question heading into Saturday’s game was who would start in goal for Inter Miami. Nick Marsman was the starter at the beginning of the season, injured his back, and was replaced by Drake Callender, who played exceptionally well in Marsman’s absence. Callender kept the No. 1 spot even after Marsman recovered, but Neville went with Marsman on Saturday for the second game in a row.
The coach said he will be looking for “freshness” when choosing his lineup for Tuesday’s game against Columbus. He said Duke, Jones and Lassiter will be in his plans as well as midfielder Victor Ulloa and winger Emerson, who did not play Saturday.
“We’ve got to pick the right team Tuesday,” Neville said. “(Saturday) was not good enough, but Tuesday will be.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2022 at 12:13 AM.