Playoff berth remains within reach
But Inter Miami can’t afford slipups
After several months of waiting and watching from home, a limited number of Inter Miami CF season ticket holders will finally be able to watch the team play inside its Fort Lauderdale stadium on Saturday.
And they’ll witness a critical matchup for Inter Miami’s playoff aspirations that comes against the team’s in-state rival.
“Having the fans there, it’s definitely going to give us that extra bit of energy,” defender Ben Sweat said. “Having that little bit of noise in the background is going to help us push to another level.”
The club is allowing a few thousand season ticket holders inside Inter Miami CF Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. game against Orlando City SC. Inter Miami hasn’t disclosed an exact number of fans that will be allowed to attend Saturday’s match.
The stadium has been closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The club allowed 350 members of its supporters groups to watch the Oct. 14 game against Atlanta United FC from the stadium’s north stands, marking the first time it allowed spectators outside of staff and family members of the team to attend amatch.
Although the 18,000-seat stadium won’t be filled to capacity, the team is eager to host its largest home crowd of the inaugural season.
“We’re excited the fans are going to beable to join us thisweekend,” Inter Miami coach Diego Alonso said. “I’m sure they’ll be our 12th player on the field.”
Inter Miami (5-11-3, 18 points) need all the support it can get during this pivotal time of the season.
The team will be without forward Gonzalo Higuain, who was given a red card after the team’s match against the Montreal Impact on Oct. 17. While he’s only recorded one goal and one assist in six games with Inter Miami, the Argentine for ward has been one of the team’s best offensive threats in his limited time with the team.
He receives a lot of well- deserved attention from defenders, with Higuain scoring nearly 300 goals across 600 total appearances with River Plate, RealMadrid, Napoli and Juventus since 2004.
“Gonzalo gives us a lot of rhythm and we know he’s important in the attack because he attracts a lot of defensive players, giving us more space,” Inter Miami defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez said.“Everyone knows what Gonzalo can do, but we’ll try to replace him the best we can.”
Rodolfo Pizarro, who has three goals and five assists this season, should bring a spark in his return to Inter Miami’s attack.
He missed the team’s last four games while playing in friendlies in the Netherlands for Mexico’s national team earlier this month and having to go through Major League Soccer’s COVID19 mandatory quarantine protocol after returning to the U.S.
Inter Miami need all the points it can get in its final four games of the season.
Inter Miami is just outside of the playoff standings at 12th place in the 14-team East Conference, with the top 10 teams in the conference making the playoffs. Inter Miami is only two points behind the 10th-place Chicago Fire FC (5-8-5, 20 points), with 11th-place Atlanta United (5-10-4, 19 points) sandwiched between Miami and Chicago.
Bragging rights will also be on the line in the final regular-season matchup between MLS’s two Florida teams, with Orlando City holding a 2-1 advantage in the season series against Inter Miami.
Orlando beat Miami in the MLS is Back tournament on July 8. Inter Miami then won the Aug. 22 game at Inter Miami CF Stadium before losing to Orlando City in the most recent match up on Sept. 12.
“Every gameis like a playoff game,” forward Juan Agudelo said.
“It’s do-or-die. We can’t lose points, especially at home.”