Inter Miami (without Messi) advances to Leagues Cup Round of 16, will face Columbus Crew
Inter Miami had just edged past Toronto 4-3 in a wild game Thursday night to earn a spot in the Leagues Cup Round of 16 and coach Tata Martino was asked about the possibility of playing defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew in the next round.
“Columbus is the best team in the league, by far, and we’d have to play at their home,” Martino replied.
It turns out Miami will, in fact, be playing Columbus on the road Tuesday night, as the Crew rolled past Sporting Kansas City 4-0 in the Round of 32 on Friday night. The Crew is unbeaten in its past five home matches and a sellout crowd is expected at Lower.com Field, so Inter Miami will have to be in top form to win. The teams last played June 19 in a regular season game at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and Miami won 2-1.
Inter Miami heads into Tuesday’s Cup elimination game on a positive note, despite having played four games in a row without injured captain Lionel Messi. The Argentine star, who hurt his right ankle during the Copa America final July 14, had not returned to training as of Thursday and will likely miss a few more weeks.
Messi’s teammates have stepped up and won eight of 10 games in his absence, including the wild one against Toronto, which they survived despite going down a man midway through the first half. Messi watched from a field-level suite.
This year’s Leagues Cup lacks the buzz it had last summer, when Messi made his debut and led Miami to the title. A year-low crowd of 10,543 showed up on Thursday and were rewarded with a barrage of early goals.
Inter Miami cruised to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes with goals by Matias Rojas, Diego Gomez and Luis Suarez before the game got tense. Jordi Alba had all three assists and finished with a career-high four for the night.
“We have a No. 10 who plays on the left side,” Martino said of Alba. “We have a great assistant from that side. But we also got big games from Matias and Diego. I thought Fede Redondo played a great game, Yannick [Bright] when he went in, [Sergio] Busquets marking from the center, left and right. We had a lot of highlights, and Jordi was certainly one of them.”
Two of Toronto’s goals came from first-half penalty kicks and Miami had to play with 10 men after center back David Martinez was ejected in the 27th minute.
“For the first 20 to 25 minutes it looked like we were were going to score a goal on every attack, and when you are then faced with so many misfortunes, you normally would lose,” Martino said. “And that is the good news for us. Despite all the unfavorable situations we faced, if I have to analyze the performance of the team, I liked it very much. I told the players that the key was overcoming adversity, and fortunately, we were able to do that.”
Suarez returned to the starting lineup after sitting out the group stage game against Mexican team Tigres.
Also back in the lineup was Gomez in his first game since representing Paraguay in the Paris Olympics. Key Biscayne teenager Benjamin Cremaschi, who was also at the Olympics with Team USA, came in as a late substitute.
Fans were still arriving when Rojas scored in the third minute to give Inter Miami an early lead. The cross came from Alba.
Eight minutes later, Alba settled a long pass from Sergio Busquets and then laid off a well-timed pass to Gomez, who was running in from the top of the 18 and slotted in the shot.
Toronto closed the gap to 2-1 in the 14th minute on a penalty kick by Lorenzo Insigne, who was taken down in the box by Chelo Weigandt.
Suarez made it 3-1 with a chip-in from close range past Toronto keeper Sean Johnson, and it looked as if the men in pink were in for an easy win.
But things got complicated shortly thereafter. Martinez, who joined the team two weeks ago from Argentine club River Plate, was called for a foul on Prince Osei Owusu on the edge of the box at the 27 minute mark and initially was slapped with a yellow card. A VAR review ruled that the foul was not in the box, so Toronto was not awarded a penalty kick, but Martinez’s yellow card was upgraded to red, leaving Miami a man down the rest of the night.
It was only a matter of time before Toronto scored again, on another penalty kick by Insigne. This one came in the 41st minute after a foul by Alba. Insigne had a chance for a third goal on a free kick, but Drake Callender made a huge save to preserve Miami’s lead.
“We committed an error in the first penalty, another one that resulted in David’s expulsion, and another in the second penalty, but we were playing a very strong game overall,” Martino said. “We even scored a high-quality fourth goal when we were down a man, with good ball circulation.”
Miami led 3-2 at halftime and widened the lead to 4-2 on a second goal from Rojas in the 59th minute, assisted by (who else?) Alba, with his fourth assist of the night.
“I’m a player who likes to attack and distribute assists, I’ve done it all my life,” Alba said. “I’m doing it again this year and I’m very happy for that contribution. Besides, I feel very happy with this team, very comfortable in Miami, with all the people. I’m very happy.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 8:18 PM.