Miami Start the Defence of the League Cup with a win

Puebla 0 Inter Miami 2

Inter Miami showed some of their attacking flair on Saturday night, as they put Puebla to the sword with a relatively comfortable 2-0 win to open their League Cup campaign.

With Lionel Messi still out injured, Inter Miami coach Gerardo Martino made further changes by resting goalkeeper Drake Callendar for CJ dos Santos and starting recent loan signing Hector Martinez to make his debut as centre-back.

Miami had the ball in the net in the opening minutes when Jordi Alba received a short corner and crossed for Marcelo Weigandt to volley home from close range, only to be flagged for offside. It was a neat move and a sign of things to come. It wasn’t long before they went ahead when Matius Rojas struck from a tight angle.

As Puebla tried to pass their way out of defense, they got sloppy and were punished. Yannick Bright made a simple interception after picking up a loose pass. He then found Robert Taylor on the left, who slipped the ball into the path of Rojas.

He latched onto the pass from Taylor before unleashing a thunderous strike that beat Miguel Jimenez at his near post to open the scoring.

The Paraguay International has been as missed as any of the other South Americans away at Copa America in recent weeks, and his return has been a huge boost for the Herons.

It could have been two soon after when some more sloppy passing by Puebla opened themselves up to the Miami attacking threat.

This time, it was Julian Gressel who picked up the loose pass before playing a neat one-two with Lois Suarez on the edge of the penalty area. The midfielder did well to get a shot away but was unlucky to see it hit the foot of the post. Suarez tried to recycle the ball, but Miami couldn’t make anything from it.

The home side continued to dominate play and pose more questions than their opposition, who struggled to create much in the final third, restricted largely to long-range efforts.

Miami is blessed to have players who are tireless runners on and off the ball. Gressel has been excellent in recent months and seems to quietly go about his business with no fuss, to great effect, getting assists and scoring goals.

Much like Taylor on the other wing, he is such a selfless runner, and his pace scares defenders. His form has been rewarded with an extension to his contract this week, and you can see why Miami wants to keep him.

The second half didn’t have the same flow as the first, but Inter always looked the better side as they constantly looked to create chances and make the game safe. Puebla had the better of possession in the second half but lacked any creativity and never really tested dos Santos.

I have been critical of Inter in recent weeks for not finishing off games when they are ahead and are dominating the game. This could have fallen into the same category, but they certainly had enough of the ball and created enough chances to win more comfortably.

They did, however, finally end Puebla’s hopes when a fantastic ball over the top from Gressel found the run of Alba, who beat the offside trap and beat the keeper to the ball. The full-back’s neat ball into the feet of Suarez left Jimenez stranded, for the striker to score into the empty net.

The usual flurry of substitutes towards the end of the match changed the game a bit, and Miami were able to close out proceedings comfortably.

In truth, they weren’t really tested, but it was a good night for the Herons. A clean sheet for dos Santos and an impressive debut for Martinez will please coach Martino as his mix of youth and experience continues to impress.