Miami looking for first win to stay in MLS tournament
The stakes of Inter Miami’s game against New York City FC in their final group-stage match of the MLS is Back tournament (9 a.m. Monday on ESPN) are pretty clear.
Lose or tie, and they’ll be eliminated from the tournament. Defeating NYCFC is ultimately the only way for Inter Miami to stay in contention for one of the four thirdplace spots in the tournament’s 16-team knockout stage. The tournament starts July 25 after the conclusion of group-stage games.
Even with a victory, they aren’t guaranteed a spot in the tournament’s next phase. But players say getting the victory versus NYCFC is the team’s sole focus. “We can only control what we can control — and that’s getting three points,” Inter Miami midfielder Lee Nguyen said. “Whatever results happen after that, the chips will fall where they fall but as long as we get three points, we gave ourselves a chance to go to the next stage.”
In NYCFC, Inter Miami will face a team whose principal characteristic is “the way they possess the ball and the way they position their players,” according to Inter Miami coach Diego Alonso.
Each team is in search of its first win of the season and tournament, with both Inter Miami and NYCFC 0-4 on the year and 0-2 in group-stage play.
NYCFC lost to
the Philadelphia Union, 1-0, in their first match of the tournament before falling to Orlando City SC, 3-1, last Tuesday.
Inter Miami fell to Orlando City in the tournament’s first game before losing to the Union in their second match — being defeated by one goal in both games.
While they’ve been competitive in both of their tournament games, a common theme in both Inter Miami losses is the deciding goal coming after defensive lapses that the team has attributed a lack of concentration, which it feels it can control and correct.
“One of the things that I can really speak to is communication,” Victor Ulloa said.
“In certain moments of those games, we have a lack of communication, which leads to not only one mistake, but at least two, three or four [mistakes]. If we can clean that up, I think we will be in good shape to start getting good results.”
Inter Miami will be tasked with the challenge of trying to claim the victory while playing their first morning game at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.
While the team has adjusted its internal clock by starting its practices at 8 a.m. throughout the week leading up to the match, it’ll have to deal with Central Florida’s humidity and rising temperatures as the game goes on.
“It’s going to be hot for us, it’s going to be hot for them, and it’s going to be 11 players against 11 players,” Ulloa said. “Whoever wants it more and whoever is focused and concentrated and pays attention to the small details — which we’ve lacked in these past games — is going to take the game.”