Inter Miami Eat a Dose of Humble Pie in Cincy

Wednesday night’s Major League Soccer line-up glimmered with an array of mouth-watering fixtures, with New York Red Bulls facing off against New England Revolution, Vancouver Whitecaps traveling to Montreal, and Charlotte FC taking on D.C. United. However, there was one fixture in particular that stood out above the rest in TQL Stadium.

FC Cincinnati hosted Inter Miami in a battle of two of the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference. Cincinnati looked set for a fifth consecutive victory on Saturday after scoring twice in the first five minutes, only for Columbus Crew to score two quick-fire goals before halftime and prevail with a comeback 4-2 victory away from home. Inter Miami, meanwhile, were seeking their second-straight win against Cincy, having beaten them 2-0 last August thanks to an early brace from Luis Suarez.

After an impressive showing in the FIFA Club World Cup which saw them draw to Al Ahly and Palmeiras and defeat Porto before finally losing to Champions League victors Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16, Inter Miami would return to league play one week later and secure their third straight MLS victory in Canada, erasing an early deficit and prevailing 4-1 against Montreal, before coming away with a 2-1 victory at New England Revolution. Miami continued their stellar form at the weekend as eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi scored a brace for the third week in a row in a 2-1 home win against Nashville.

The Herons were seeking their sixth straight MLS win as well as their third straight away victory, but they were hit with a cold dose of reality in Ohio as Cincinnati delivered their best performance of the season and blew Miami away from start to finish. The hosts nearly took the lead after a minute as Cincinnati striker Kei Kamara evaded three pink shirts with a powerful header before breaking free from Tomas Aviles and forcing a world-class save from Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari. They continued to build the pressure and would finally get their reward after a quarter-hour as Luca Orellano drifted infield before teeing up Gerardo Valenzuela. The sole change in the line-up after replacing the injured Kevin Denkey, Valenzuela took his chance well, timing his run to perfection and firing past Ustari, who was forced to come off in the 26th minute due to injury. From that point onwards, it was one-way traffic as Cincinnati prevented Miami from playing out with an aggressive, coordinated pressing setup as well as smooth passing play. 

Going into this match, there were two men who were controlling the spotlight: Messi and Evander. Whilst Messi was seeking his sixth straight brace in an MLS match as well as his seventh straight match with a goal, Evander was seeking a fifth straight match with a goal, having previously registered 6 goals and 2 assists in his past 4 matches. And whilst Messi came close to pulling one back on two separate occasions in the first half, it was Evander who added the second and third goals of the match to lead Cincinnati to a 3-0 win at home.

This result has significant consequences for both the top scorer race and the playoff positions. Inter Miami currently sit fifth in the Eastern Conference with 38 points, three behind Columbus, six behind Nashville, seven behind Cincinnati and eight behind Philadelphia (each of those sides has played three more matches than Miami). Evander, meanwhile, has leapfrogged Philly’s Tai Baribo and moved into third in the MLS Golden Boot standings with 15 goals for Cincy, one behind Messi and two behind Nashville’s Sam Surridge.