Confident, energized, organized Inter Miami to battle winless Nashville SC
Much has changed since a rudderless Inter Miami team lost its MLS playoff opener 3-0 at Nashville SC five months ago.
When the teams meet again Sunday at Nissan Stadium (1 p.m., ESPN), Inter Miami will be under the direction of new coach Phil Neville, who has energized and organized the group in his first three months on the job.
Miami enters this game with a boost of confidence after a 2-1 upset road win over the Philadelphia Union last Sunday, while Nashville is seeking its first win of the season after settling for a pair of ties.
One thing that might be the same in the matchup of MLS’ sophomore clubs is that Miami’s Gonzalo and Federico Higuain are not expected to play. The brothers missed the November playoff game after testing positive for COVID, and this week they are doubtful as they are in Argentina mourning the loss of their mother.
Inter Miami could also be missing playmaker Rodolfo Pizarro, who is in
Mexico acquiring a green card; starting winger Robbie Robinson (hamstring injury) and backup forward Julian Carranza (ill).
“Omissions or no omissions, we’ll plan for what I believe to be a more organized yet still exciting Miami group,” said Nashville SC coach Gary Smith. “I would imagine they’re very happy with how their form has looked in the past couple of games. Personally, I think they made some good additions to the group to improve that team. There were a lot of changes, some of the guys that have come in have added experience and depth.”
Smith said the main difference he sees in Miami is more cohesion, especially defensively.
“It would seem Phil Neville has got the group far more organized and is starting to put his own fingerprints on that team,” Smith said. “To what I’ve seen, it hasn’t affected their ability to score goals or create. There is a far more disciplined and determined edge to that group than what we saw last year. Whilst they looked very exciting going forward last year, the challenge was going to be how do they make themselves more difficult to play against and it looks to me that Phil’s got a real good answer to that.”
With key players missing, Victor Ulloa, Josh Penn, Edison Azcona, Ryan Shawcross and Jay Chapman will likely get more minutes. Brek Shea, who has been injured, might also make his season debut.
Neville called Nashville “an outstanding team with a brilliant manager” and expects a tough match.
As for how he feels about his team, Neville said: “This is just a start of the journey, we’ve had two really good performances and one result. The road is long. The biggest thing for me from the Philadelphia game was the belief the players had in me and the style of play. I felt like the team believed in the tactics and philosophy. We’ve made a lot of changes, brought in 12 new players and four to six new staff. It takes time to settle, but there was a tremendous spirit and togetherness.”
Michelle Kaufman: 305-376-3438, @kaufsports