Inter Miami coasts into Cup quarterfinals
Luis Suarez scored a first-half penalty and Lionel Messi netted in the final seconds for a 2-0 win against Cavalier FC in Jamaica.
Adrian Reid, right, a midfielder for Jamaica’s Cavalier FC, dribbles away from Inter Miami’s Luis Suarez during their March 6 match at Chase Stadium. Photo: Concacaf Media
Messi makes Jamaica debut
Of course Lionel Messi provided the two most electric moments of Inter Miami’s 2-0 Champions Cup win Friday against Jamaica’s Cavalier FC. First, he entered the match and, second, he netted a goal in the game’s final minute.
The Herons’ win at Jamaica’s national stadium sealed its Concacaf Champions Cup Round-of-16 victory against the defending Caribbean Cup champions with a 4-0 aggregate score (Tadeo Allende and Luis Suarez had second half goals to beat Cavalier last week at Chase Stadium.)
Inter Miami will face LAFC in the Cup quarterfinals, with the first match scheduled April 1 in Los Angeles and the return leg on April 8 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. Times had not been announced at this writing.
Messi had missed three straight matches since leaving early against Sporting KC on Feb. 25, including the first leg of the Herons’ match with Cavalier. The team said the Argentine icon wasn’t injured, but was being rested because of muscle fatigue.
Coach Javier Mascherano had planned to play Messi in last week’s MLS match against Charlotte FC, but changed his mind when Allende scored to give Miami a 1-0 lead despite Miami playing a man short. Goalkeeper Oscar Ustari received a red card in the first half but went to the break in a scoreless draw. Allende and Suarez teamed up for a fantastic goal less than a minute into the second half, and Mascherano put the Herons in a defensive posture to protect their slim lead.
On Thursday, Allende drew a foul in Miami’s penalty box and Suarez calmly blasted the ball to the diving goalkeeper’s right to give the Men in Pink a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute (and 3-0 overall in the home-and-away tie).
When Messi entered in the 53rd minute, he received a rousing welcome from the 35,000 filling Independence Field, the Jamaican national stadium. The eight-time Balon d’Or winner and 2022 World Cup hero has played almost 1,100 matches in his club and international careers, but never in Jamaica.
It was a somewhat anticlimactic debut; the star struggled to make an impact until the final seconds of stoppage time. With the clock running out on the final minute of stoppage time, 18-year-old Santi Morales looped a pass over a defender to Messi, who was running diagonally from the right side near the top of the box toward the left post.
Messi flicked the ball by the defender into the lower right corner and, seconds later, the referee blew the full-time whistle.
Mascherano was pleased with the Inter Miami’s performance.
“I’m happy with the level that we showed today, I think we took a step forward,” he said. "We felt comfortable on the pitch…We were able to control their counterattack and that, for me, was the key to the match.”
In one of the few negative notes from the evening, David Ruiz started but suffered what appeared to be a hamstring injury while chasing a ball in the 17th minute.
The Herons will play an important MLS Eastern Conference match at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday at Atlanta United. The match will be streamed on Apple TV+’s MLS Season Pass as part of it’s Sunday Night Soccer package.