- Lionel Messi sat at home in South Beach after picking up a muscle injury
- But Luis Suarez’s second-half heroics secured three points for the Herons
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With Lionel Messi sitting out and Inter Miami playing a third game in a seven-day stretch, questions abounded over the quality and resilience of the side that manager Tata Martino would field in a road trip to the Nation’s Capital.
But a lack of Messi was no cause for concern for the Herons. A substitute appearance by striker Luis Suarez was what made the difference as the Uruguayan bagged a brace in a 3-1 victory over DC United.
Without Messi, the Herons relied heavily on counter attacking and it worked wonders for the team – who now lead MLS with ten points from their first five games.
19,365 flocked to Audi Field in the southwest corner of the city – many knowing full well that they would not see the Argentine World Cup winner take the pitch.
But the Herons were able to put on a show anyway – and thanks to their supersub, the league’s most talent-rich team will head into the international break still atop the table.
Luis Suarez (center) saved the day for Inter Miami – scoring twice off the bench to win 3-1
Inter Miami’s record without Messi was poor coming into this match. In the previous seven Messi-less matches, the Herons were 0-3-4 with a minus-eight goal aggregate (10-18).
He played 50 minutes of Miami’s CONCACAF Champions Cup matchup against Nashville SC at the mid-week: scoring and setting up a goal. But coach Tata Martino took him off after he experienced what the coach called ‘muscle overload’.
The Argentine didn’t make the trip to the Nation’s Capital – much to the dismay of not only many thousands of pink-clad fans turning up to Audi Field but also Major League Soccer. One imagines that consecutive league matches missed isn’t what they had in mind when signing him to MLS’s richest-ever deal.
Assistant coach Javier Morales tried assuring fans that the team cared about the fixture against the Screaming Eagles and would field the best squad possible. “Saturday’s game is important for us, so we’ll try to play with the best players available,” Morales said prior to the match.
Flash forward to Saturday. The only member of the ‘Barcelona Four’ in the starting lineup was Sergio Busquets. Jordi Alba (who played a full 180 minutes in three days) and Luis Suarez (who played 86 minutes on Wednesday) sat on the bench.
DC United set the tone early in the match. After a flurry of chances, they finally converted in minute 14 after an incisive through ball found the feet of Jared Stroud. The 27-year-old hit a tidy little strike across the body of Miami keeper Drake Callender to take a 1-0 lead. That gave way to peculiar scenes of fans wearing Miami or Argentina kits celebrating the goal – guess the Messi Effect breeds interest, but not always loyalty.
DC United struck first and played an excellent first half – pressuring Miami’s back line
Leonardo Campana (L) drew honors even as he cleaned up a second chance opportunity
DC’s first-half chances bared down on the Inter defense, but Miami’s heavy counter attacking led to a goal just before the half-hour mark. After Inter’s Robert Taylor overran the ball on a counter, he whipped a cross into striker Leonardo Campana – whose shot was saved by DC keeper Alex Bono. But the ball wasn’t cleared away efficiently – leading to a second chance Campana strike that beat the keeper to draw honors even.
With Messi’s no-show, fans crowded the railings – clamoring for their chance to get pictures of Alba and Suarez. People screamed their names and other shouts like ‘Viva Messi’ and ‘Visca Barca’. Eventually, security arrived and the crowds dispersed.
As Suarez jogged to be substituted in, a mix of both cheers and boos erupted from the crowd. Both reactions grew louder as the Uruguayan made his way onto the pitch to replace Taylor.
Suarez made his substitute appearance – bagging himself a brace and earning a Miami win
Luis Suarez watches as the ball trickles under DC United keeper Alex Bono for his first goal
In the 71st minute, there were shouts for a handball in DC’s attacking end. In the chaos of the moment, Miami counter attacked. Campana perfectly slotted a ball across for Suarez – who just needed to put a boot on it to go in the net. VAR looked at the incident, but didn’t overturn Miami’s 2-1 lead.
Just in case there was any doubt of the result, Suarez bagged himself a brace. A lazy pass from former Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Klich was intercepted by Miami’s Diego Gomez who found the 36-year-old striker. Suarez took his shot and Bono got a hand on it, but wasn’t strong enough to keep it out of the net.
Martino said Suarez’s heavy use in the previous match led to his substitute role: ‘We had discussed that he was going to play half an hour and he defined the game for us. For us he is a fundamental [player].’
As Suarez wheeled off to the corner, the traveling Miami fans celebrated. They may not have seen the one player they hoped for, but they saw a victory that proved Miami doesn’t always need Messi to be the one to save the day.