Allende scores twice, Inter Miami settles for 3-3 tie with San Jose after wild game
Soccer fans in the San Francisco Bay Area started buzzing the moment Inter Miami star Lionel Messi and his teammates arrived on Sunday, ahead of Wednesday night’s game against the San Jose Earthquakes. They got to see their hero in a wild game that ended in a 3-3 tie.
Miami dropped to fifth place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind first-place Cincinnati. Inter Miami has six wins, two losses and four ties heading into Sunday’s home game against Orlando City and has conceded 17 goals over the past six games.
Messi left the field in a bad mood after receiving a yellow card post-game for arguing with referee Joseph Dickerson about what he thought should have been a foul called on a play during extra time.
At one point during the dispute, San Jose coach Bruce Arena stepped in and tried to calm Messi down, putting his hand on his back and guiding him away to the tunnel as Dickerson threatened to give Messi a red card.
“[Messi] was obviously not happy, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to get red carded,” Arena explained. “That’s why I just tried to move him out of the way because for him to get a red card after the game would have been ridiculous. So, I just wanted to make sure we get him out of there and he’s ready to play the next game for Miami.”
After the game, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano summed up the evening: “We are committing too many errors that end up in goals [for the opponent]. We have to come away with a positive, which is we fought until the end, trying to win and we showed good spirit. But we have a lot to improve because we cannot concede goals like we did.”
Hundreds of fans had gathered outside the Miami team hotel behind police barricades on Monday night, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Argentine icon. They got their wish. Messi stepped out onto a balcony and waved to his worshippers, who chanted his name and captured the moment with their cell phones, similar to the kind of reception the Pope gets at the Vatican.
PayPal Park was sold out for the game, with the cheapest tickets going for $528 on the secondary market an hour before kickoff.
Inter Miami took the lead 36 seconds into the game on a header by Maxi “Peluca” Falcon. It came after a short corner kick between Telasco Segovia and Messi, followed by a long high cross from Jordi Alba. Miami lost four of its past five games and was desperate for a win heading into the game against San Jose.
The men in pink erupted with joy as Falcon’s header went into the net and then they celebrated with the Uruguayan center back.
But the Miami team mood changed in a hurry as San Jose’s Cristian “Chicho” Arango scored the equalizer at the three-minute mark. It was Arango’s ninth goal of the season, which leads the league. Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari made a weak pass intended for Noah Allen, who lost his footing, Miami turned the ball over, and Arango capitalized. Arango would leave the game limping after a leg injury in the 26th minute.
Ten minutes later, the Earthquakes went ahead 2-1 on a goal by 21-year-old San Jose native Beau Leroux, who collected a ball that bounced off Miami’s Sergio Busquets and then right footed a shot from outside the box to the right corner past Ustari.
“We started the game in the best way, and unfortunately, once again mistakes hurt us so much,” Mascherano said.
Benja Cremaschi had a golden opportunity to tie it up, but failed to finish after a perfectly-placed and paced low ball from Tadeo Allende directly in front of the goal. Allende took matters into his own feet a few minutes later, scoring his first goal in two months to make it 2-2. The goal, scored in transition, began with a perfect long pass from Messi to Alba, who was sprinting on the left side and crossed the ball to Allende.
But Miami’s leaky defense hurt the team again and allowed Ian Harkes (son of former U.S. national team great John Harkes) to score in first-half stoppage time to give the hosts a 3-2 halftime lead.
Allende came to Miami’s rescue in the second half, scoring the equalizer. Yannick Bright stole the ball to get the play started, passed to Baltasar Rodriguez, who was making his Miami debut, and Rodriguez sent a low cross to Allende, who blasted a shot from close range.
“He needed the goal, and had a very good game, not just with the goals he scored but with everything else he did well,” Mascherano said of Allende. “We need our players, especially the important players, to return to the level they were at before.”
Allende had mixed feelings after the game.
“Personally, it felt good to score, that will help my confidence, but we leave with a bitter taste after this tie because we needed a win after some tough losses,” Allende said. “We need to correct our mistakes and we are looking ahead to the game this weekend.”
Although the team came away with a point, Mascherano said it was a game they could have won.
“Against Minnesota, we made mistakes, today the same, we get to 2-2 after leading the game and make mistakes, we have to play smarter and be more mature,” he said. “That is part of being on a team that wants to compete for big things. It happened to us against Dallas, too, we were up 3-1 [and lost]. We continue to make individual mistakes that prove costly.”
Rodriguez left the field shortly after entering the game, apparently with a leg injury, and was replaced by Allen Obando.
Forward Luis Suarez and winger Fafa Picault were missing for the second game in a row. Suarez is out of town for personal reasons and Picault is dealing with migraine headaches that kept him out of Saturday’s game at Minnesota United, which Miami lost 4-1.
The Earthquakes lead MLS in scoring this season with 29 goals and are in seventh place in the Western Conference.
The Quakes’ Starting XI included: Daniel, Rodrigues, Daniel Munie, Dave Romney, DeJuan Jones, Beaux Leroux, Ian Harkes, Vitor Costa, Espinoza, Ousseni Bouda, and Arango. Among the players on the bench was former Inter Miami forward Josef Martinez.
This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 10:06 PM.