Inter Miami CF hosted Charlotte FC this Saturday, September 28, at a packed Chase Stadium looking for a victory that eluded them and that they eluded, despite Lionel Messi trying in every possible way in a match that they deserved to win.
And in a match in which there was only one team on the field, Inter could not get past a 1-1 draw against the good Charlotte team, losing 2 very important points on their field.
Messi scored Miami’s equalizer in the 67th minute, after Charlotte’s opening goal by Karol Swiderski in the 57th minute.
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Once again, Leo’s performance was a real recital and although the goal was real, in all fairness, he was not so lucky in front of the goal.
After three consecutive draws, Inter (19-8-4) remained comfortably in first place in the Eastern Conference with 65 points, maintaining its 8-point advantage over second-place Columbus with 57 points, the team it plays next Wednesday. Meanwhile, Charlotte (11-9-11) remained in 7th with 42.
With three games remaining, Miami leads the Galaxy by 7 points and the Crew by 8 in their fight for the Supporters Shield. Now they only need 4 points to win this title.
Inter, despite having to come back, were far superior, but the ball refused to go in. The numbers are a great reflection of this, with greater dominance (60.1%), but even more so their 21 shots on goal (8 on target), compared to 9 for their rival (2).
Coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino started with Sergio Busquets as a defender in a flexible 4-4-2 with Drake Callender, Marcelo Weingandt, Tomas Aviles, Busquets, Jordi Alba, Julian Gressel, Federico Redondo, Jannick Bright, Diego Gomez, Leo Messi, and Luis Suarez.
“It is a fact that we missed goals because we had enough opportunities to win,” Martino said. “Overall, it was our goal and of course, we are disappointed to have drawn three games in a row. It’s a shame we didn’t take advantage of Columbus’s draw, but I don’t have any complaints because we played our opponents on their field.” “We tried everything and we couldn’t achieve it,” Tata added.
The first half ended 0-0, which showed how little desire Inter showed to score in the first 45 minutes, where despite dominating (59.1%) they shot less (4-6), 2 of them on target. With Busquets behind, Messi had many balls to make the difference.
Miami started better, monopolizing the game during the first minutes, with some good chances. The best one came in the 8th minute when Gomez slipped a pass to Messi who missed alone in front of the goalkeeper with a soft shot to his right.
Nothing changed in the following minutes, but Inter thought too hard about taking just four shots on goal in the first 30 minutes. In the 35th minute, Messi unleashed a good shot that went just wide of the near post.
In the last 15 minutes, Miami lacked rhythm, was too slow, and did not eagerly seek out the opponent’s goal, also allowing their rival some freedom, to end the first half without pain or glory.
At 51′ Messi had another chance, but again he made a weak shot at the ball that Suarez passed to him after a great cross from Alba. The shot was stopped by Charlotte’s goalkeeper who dived to his right.
At 57′ Charlotte surprised by scoring the 1-0 when center forward Karol Swiderski, assisted by Alba, deflected a shot from Brandt Bronico into the net.
Miami went ahead with everything, even more so with the substitution of Matias Rojas (60′) for Gressel, and in the 62nd minute Messi, after leaving several players behind, headed another cross from Alba into the hands of the goalkeeper, finishing the play that he himself started. Then in the 66th minute, Leo tried again from outside the area, adjusting his aim.
At 76′ the VAR disallowed a penalty for Miami and at 81′ Martino went all out by putting Leonardo Campana in for Redondo. And with time up, Ian Fray replaced Aviles, David Ruiz replaced Bright and Benjamin Cremaschi replaced Gomez.
