Inter Miami returned to the path of victoria this Wednesday after their last defeat in Atlanta, with a 4-0 win over Toronto in an outstanding match of players who came off the bench, such as the Finnish Robert Taylor, who scored two goals. Despite the win and the good feelings, the match left concerns about injuries Lionel Messi y Jordi Albawho returned to the eleven today, but could not finish the first half.
At the South Florida club, a decisive countdown begins for the final of the US Open Cup, which will be played on September 27. Both Alba and Messi had rested last weekend due to muscle fatigue and had to be replaced against Toronto in the 34th and 37th minutes respectively. Two Gerardo Martino regulars also returned, such as the Ukrainian center back Sergey Kryvtsov and the Venezuelan striker Josef Martínez, in a tactical drawing again with three center backs.
First half without gunpowder
The first half was characterized by the numerous arrivals at the goals defended by Callender and Romero, but also by the lack of precision of the attacks when seeking the goal. Josef Martínez opened the festival of chances in the fourth minute, when a loose ball was found on the edge of the area due to a defensive error by Toronto and his shot went wide.
Toronto, during the first stages of the match, put all its offensive options in Federico Bernardeschi’s search for space. His teammates offered him long balls but the three local centre-backs covered his back well. It was precisely the opposite way, playing and arriving short into the area, as they most worried and demanded Callender. Busquets lost it to DeAndre Kerr, who made a fantasy self-pass with a pipe included to Kryvtsov and neither in the first, with a save by the goalkeeper, nor in the second, with the ball hitting the post, was he able to score the first goal of the night.
Messi’s first came in the 18th minute, a run from ten towards the central corridor leading to standing in front of the goal and shooting with an easy resolution for Romero. The Argentine gradually gained prominence with the ball in the last meters, on each of those occasions the scores multiplied and it was difficult for him to resolve. Already in the 22nd minute he managed to receive a pass from Farías at the far post and sent it over the crossbar with the less good one, the right one.
Farías resolved
Inter Miami gained meters as the minutes passed, stroking the goal, but the definition was not precise in any of them. It was then that concern was felt in the stands of the DRV PNK Stadium when they saw how Jordi Alba first, and Leo Messi later, requested the change due to muscle discomfort.
Noah Allen and Robert Taylor came in, both had an impact on the game and answered the team’s need. The fans went from disgust to celebration, with the arrival of the first goal, signed by Facundo Farías. A cross from the left of the local attack was poorly cleared by Romero and he left it for the Argentine to finish at will and from point-blank range already in added time.
The non-habituals responded
Without the heavyweights on the pitch, the responsibility fell to less common names, and they raised their hands Taylor in the 53rd minute, driving the ball along the entire edge of the area and finishing very off with a right cross against little opposition from Spanish defender Alonso Coello. The Finn had not scored since last August 12 when he scored his fourth goal of the ‘Leagues Cup’ and at times he remembered that excellent version that he showed in the first games of the ‘Messi era’ when he was a great partner of the Argentine .
The next to appear and score was the youth squad Benjamin Cremaschi to the contrary. He started the play and assisted Taylor on the right wing, the Finn returned it to the space and crossed it first in the 73rd minute to beat Romero low.
The fourth goal came in the 86th minute, a high ball served by Farías surpassed Toronto’s line of four and Taylor appeared to accommodate Romero on the right. The Finn only knows how to score beautifully crafted goals and this one was no exception.
‘Tata’, calmer due to injuries
The Argentine Gerardo Martino, coach of Inter Miami, assured this Wednesday that He does not believe that “there are muscle injuries” for Leo Messi and Jordi Alba and that after speaking with both players he has “less pessimism” regarding when he had to replace them. Martino acknowledged that he is not considering counting on them on Sunday for the league visit to Orlando, but rather he is already thinking about the US Open Cup final on Wednesday, September 27 against the Houston Dynamo.
“They were not yet ready for the game with Atlanta, we had training sessions where they showed themselves well, they understood that they were ready to play. From what I talked about the discomfort, I don’t think there is anything new, nothing bigger than what they had been having” Martino said at a press conference. “It’s fatigue, I don’t think there is a muscle injury and we are going day by day,” he continued.
Messi’s injury was the central focus of the press conference and Martino spoke honestly about the situation. “Obviously There is no chance that they will be there on Sunday. and what I’m talking about is based on next week,” he said.
He also highlighted that there was no pressure from him or his coaching staff for Messi and Alba to play against Toronto and recalled that they are expert players who know how to manage themselves. “I’m cautious about what could happen, after talking to them I don’t have the same pessimism that I had when I had to remove him,” he said. “I think he stopped in time, because just before (the injury) he had made a sign to me that I thought was for him and it was for Jordi. We are going to go day by day. I know we have a final but there is no way they will enter the the field if they are not in a position to do so,” he added.
Finally, he opined that in Messi’s case it is an annoyance that the player has been living with for some time. “It’s a scar from an old injury that bothers him. In the images from when he came from the national team he didn’t have an injury. I think there is no muscle injury, but I’m saying that from a conversation with him. We have to determine in the next few years days how to continue,” he said.
Datasheet
4. Inter Miami: Callender; Yedlin, Avilés (Arroyo, m.64), Kryvtsov, Miller, Alba (Allen, m.34); Busquets, Ruiz (Cremaschi, m.64), Farías; Martínez (Campana, m.64) and Messi (Taylor, m.37).
0. Toronto FC: Rosemary; Franklin, Rosted, Bradley, Petretta (Antonoglu, m.68); Vazquez (Servania, m.11, substituted by Ibarra at m.27), Coello (Blessing, m.68), Osorio; Bernardeschi, Kerr (Sapong, m.68) and Badge.
Goals: 1-0, m.45+2: Farías. 2-0, m.54: Taylor. 3-0, m.73: Cremaschi. 4-0, m.87: Taylor.
Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada). There were no reprimands.
Incidences: MLS Regular League match played at the DRV PNK Stadium before around 18,000 spectators.
Columbus, New York City and New York Bulls victories
Colombian Juan Camilo ‘Cucho’ Hernández scored a hat trick in 23 minutes this Wednesday in the Columbus Crew’s 3-0 victory at home against a Chicago Fire in crisis in the MLS midweek matchday. ‘Cucho’, a former Huesca, Mallorca, Getafe and Watford player, scored his first two goals from the penalty spot and sealed the outcome in the 23rd minute with a great header in an action that originated from a corner kick. The 24-year-old Colombian striker is experiencing an extraordinary moment of form and has accumulated seven goals in the last three games.
On the other hand, New York City stopped this Wednesday 2-0 against an Orlando City that was going ahead and thus clung to the dream of entering the MLS ‘playoff’ while its neighbor and rival New York Red Bulls returned to stumble, this time with Austin (1-1), a result that complicates their passage to the playoffs.
2023-09-21 05:21:36
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