Photo: Edwin Gomez
Inter Miami 4 – 0 Nashville SC
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL–Inter Miami moved into the semifinals after a comprehensive win over Nashville SC in front of their delighted home fans at Chase Stadium. Both teams went into the match with a win apiece in the best of three challenge, and it was Miami who showed their attacking prowess with a thumping win to show their superiority.
The Herons opened the series with a comfortable win, but Nashville leveled things up at home in game two to force the decider. Luis Suarez was suspended, so Tadeo Allende was selected to play alongside his compatriot Lionel Messi, and the young Argentine took full advantage.
Going into the game, Miami had scored the most goals at home than any other team, while Nashville hadn’t kept a clean sheet in fifteen matches, suggesting that we would see goals. And Miami came out firing, full of intent as they closed down the Nashville players and pressed high up the pitch to force the errors and make an early impact.
Messi picked up a loose ball that deflected into his path, and he simply ran at the goal. The Nashville defenders backed off and from the edge of the area the Miami captain found the corner of the net to set his side on their way.
Nashville were enjoying their fair share of the ball but whilst they looked threatening at times, they didn’t create any clear cut openings. Sam Surridge wasn’t getting any decent service and Hany Mukhtar was being stifled by the Miam defense and midfield.
Miami were making it difficult for the away side to get through the midfield, forcing them to play long and over the top, which they failed to do. And soon enough, it was two-nil when a searching pass from Jordi Alba found Mateo Silvetti. A defensive error from Walker Zimmerman let the youngster in and he showed good composure to find Messi who passed the ball into an empty net with Willis stranded.
Inter Miami were in their comfort zone and cruising although Nashville enjoyed more of the possession in the first half. However, they did little with it and failed to threaten Rocco Rios Novo in the Miami goal.
That all changed in the second half when the away side had the ball in the net after thirty seconds. But it was disallowed when Surridge was adjudged to have fouled Max Falcone.
It was a tight call and hard to say if Falcone made a meal of it as it didn’t seem like there was a lot of contact. It could have gone either way, but Miami got the rub of the green this time and it seemed to galvanize them even more.
Nashville didn’t force a save until past the hour mark, which tells a story of how ineffective they were in attack.
In contrast Miami looked hungry for more goals, and it was some more wizardry from Alba down the left who played in Allende to score his first and Miami’s third.
If that wasn’t the cherry on top, that arrived minutes later when Messi played in Allende running at goal. The young striker took out his sand wedge and delightfully chipped Willis and remove any lingering hopes for Nashville.
It was a good win for Miami, but a flattering scoreline. Nashville didn’t do enough to say they deserved more from the game, but they didn’t get any luck.
Miami will now feel confident moving forward as they face Cincinnati in the next round.
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