As expected, Lionel Messi was ruled out of Inter Miami’s match against New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Even for his teammates who had come, it might have been better to stay at home. They looked Red Bulls apathetic, unmotivated and disorganized and they paid the price for it. The players in pink suffered a 4-0 defeat on a cool, rainy afternoon.
The thermostat at Red Bull Arena was 49 degrees, persistent rain never interrupted the entire game and Inter Miami’s cold, poor performance reflected the weather conditions. Scottish former Inter Miami winger Lewis Morgan punished his former team with a hat trick. He scored goals in the third minute, 51st minute and 70th minute.
As a sign Red Bulls of respect for his former teammates, Morgan limited himself to a very muted celebration after the first goal. But he allowed himself a little celebration after the second and had a big smile on his face as his teammates hugged him to honor his hat-trick. Morgan also played a key role in the Red Bulls’ second goal, scored by Venezuela’s Vicky Carmona in the 66th minute.
The Red Bulls ball looked like it was about to roll out of bounds in left field when Morgan, showing the engine and fight that had made him a Miami fan favorite, pounced, slid and kept it in the game. He passed to Dante Venzire, who then found Carmona at close range.
The crowd, dressed in winter coats and rain ponchos, chanted: “Lewis Morgan! Lewis Morgan “There’s nothing to say except that they were the better team from start to finish; Our team looked like a team that not only had no desire to win, but no desire to even compete,” said frustrated coach Tata Martino.
“It also raises a question about how far we want to go “Especially when we can look very different from one week to the next. We all have to take responsibility, especially me as a coach.”
“But there was nothing before, not even our loss to Montreal at home a few weeks ago, that made us believe we would perform like (Saturday). “The Red Bulls wanted to win. We didn’t even feel like competing.
“We had problems in all Red Bulls aspects of the game, defending, attacking, controlling the ball, coming out from the back, many problems.” On the first goal, Dylan Neelis, another former Miami player, sent a long pass to Morgan, who scored a clinical finish from the top of the 18-yard line.
Meanwhile, Miami was never able to get anything going offensively, had trouble connecting the midfield with the forwards, and suffered frequent turnovers. “The weather was not an excuse because both teams played in similar conditions,” said midfielder Sergio Busquets.
“We made many mistakes which made it easier for them to score. We have not been able to achieve the consistency that a team needs to compete at the highest level. We need to bring players back from injury and from the national team.
Messi is Red Bulls recovering from a muscle strain and will be evaluated on a week-by-week basis. However, forward Luis Suárez, midfielder Busquets and left back Alba featured in the starting XI.
Leo Campana, Lawson Sunderland, Julian Gressel, Noah Allen, Sergey Krivtsov, Tomas Aviles, Robert Taylor and C.J. Dos Santos also started, replacing Drake Callender, who is with the U.S. national team.
There was Red Bulls some question as to whether Campana would play, as he missed practice in midweek due to an adductor strain, but he looked fit on Saturday. In addition to Callender, five other Miami players were missing for international duty: Fede Redondo (Argentina U23), Diego Gómez (Paraguay), David Ruiz (Honduras), Schneider Borgelin (Haiti), Israel Boatwright (Dominican Republic U23). Franco Negri, returning after a long injury, was on the bench. Four players from Inter Miami’s second team traveled as reinforcements: Tyler Hall, Ricardo Montenegro, Leo Afonso and José Casas.
The Red Bulls were missing Carlos Coronel (Paraguay), John Tolkin (USA), Noah Eil (Sweden), Daniel Edelman (USA), Emil Forsberg (Sweden), and Corey Burke (Jamaica). All are starters except Burke. Comments from the game:
MESSI WAS MISSED
Despite Red Bulls a roster including three of Messi’s former Barcelona teammates, Inter Miami is a different team with and without the Argentina star. Without Messi, Miami has not won eight of its last nine games. It’s not just what he does with the ball himself, but the confidence he instills in all his teammates just by his presence on the field. It appeared he visited D.C.
last weekend Red Bulls. Had learned to win without him with a 3–1 road win against United, but were unable to repeat that performance. Messi raises everyone’s standards. Players know that if they get the ball, something positive is bound to happen. He has not yet developed the kind of confidence that other players have.
Furthermore, when he is on the field, the opponent’s attention is so focused on him that other players are left free to roam and create. This is not the case with Messi’s disappearance. That said, Martino and Campana refused to use Messi’s absence as an excuse.
“On the one hand, the absence of the best player in the world is important for all of us, but last week against D.C. Leo (Messi) didn’t even play,” Martino said. Campana said: “Obviously, whenever Leo doesn’t play! It’s a big loss, and we had many players missing for the national teams, but that’s not an excuse. Those of us who have had the opportunity , They have to take charge, turn the page and look forward to New York City FC (next Saturday).”
Midfield wobbles without Gomez, Redondo
Although they are just two young players, Diego Gomez and Fede Redondo have become important to the midfield as they run a lot, cover a lot of ground, and are good complements to Busquets and Suarez, who are older and have pace. There is shortage. Gomez and Redondo both had stints with their national teams, indicating that they are among the most promising players for their countries! His absence has been felt.
MIAMI’S DEFENSE REMAINS SPOTTY
All three of Morgan’s goals came after mistakes by Miami’s defense. This was especially evident on his second goal. Tomas Aviles made a poor pass from behind in a dangerous area, it was intercepted by Weinzire, who then quickly passed the ball to Morgan, who finished with a clinical finish. Center back Sergiy Krivtsov was slow on the second ball.
Busquets said, “We made a lot of defensive mistakes! That made it very easy for them to get chances and goals and that affected the game the most.” “In the first half when we were 1-0 down, they were the better team. They scored many goals in the second half and it could not be saved.” Click Here