Lionel Messi scored once again, but it was the only highlight for Inter Miami CF as their 10-game unbeaten streak in Major League Soccer ended against an Atlanta United team that earned its first league win in nearly two months.
Saba Lobjanidze scored a goal in each half, Jamal Thiare helped put the game away with a goal in the 73rd minute and Atlanta United snapped a nine-match winless streak in MLS with a 3-1 victory on Wednesday night.
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Atlanta was 0-5-4 in MLS since beating Chicago 3-0 on March 31. But they never trailed on Wednesday, with Lobjanidze scoring late in the first half to put his team ahead and adding the second in the 59th minute. After Messi's goal, Atlanta kept all 10 of its outfield players on the side. defensive every time the hosts had deep possession in the final 30 minutes.
“The first feeling is that Atlanta United played with more urgency and that we needed more,” Miami coach Gerardo Martino said after the game. “That was demonstrated throughout the first half. But it is not a game in which I need to do an analysis of what went wrong, because what happened was a bit of everything. It was a night in which the team regressed, while In other games we found positive things. moments in challenges. Like the last game in the second half where we had to defend, but this time we couldn't connect.
“The conditions were favorable, much more for us than for them. But as we spoke yesterday, their position at the table is deceptive and today they showed it.”
Messi scored his 11th goal of the MLS season, tying Luis Suárez for the team lead. Inter Miami (10-3-4, 34 points) maintained a one-point lead atop the Eastern Conference and overall MLS standings over Cincinnati (10-3-3, 33 points). Cincinnati lost to Nashville on Wednesday night, missing out on a chance to clinch the top spot.
Inter Miami entered Wednesday with a 7-0-3 record in its last 10 MLS games. It is now 10-0-4 when two or fewer goals are allowed in MLS this season, and 0-3-0 when three or more goals are allowed.
So Wednesday was a failure. The first half of the season, however, has largely gone as planned.
With 34 points in exactly half of the MLS schedule, matching their total for the entire 2023 season, when Messi joined midway and helped the team win the Leagues Cup but failed to reach the playoffs, Inter Miami Is at the top. pace for 68 points this season.
Mathematically correct yes, realistically maybe not so much.
The plan, for now, calls for Messi to get at least a few minutes when Miami hosts St. Louis on Saturday. After that, Messi will swap Inter Miami's pink kit for Argentina's blue, playing for the country instead of the club for a while.
The Copa América, the 16-team tournament that runs from June 20 to July 14, looms, with Messi set to play for defending champion Argentina and Suarez potentially playing for Uruguay.
Asked if he thought Messi was saving himself for the Copa América, Martino, who coached Atlanta to the MLS Cup title in 2018, said: “No, I won't speculate if Messi is saving himself for the Copa América because [that question has] no validity.”
The former Barcelona teammates could miss MLS games when Miami plays in Philadelphia (June 15), Columbus (June 19), Nashville (June 29), Charlotte (July 3) and Cincinnati (July 6). After the Copa América final, Miami also has home games against Toronto (July 17) and Chicago (July 20).
Unlike most leagues, MLS schedules matches during some FIFA match periods, when the release of players to national teams is mandatory. And after the Cup, it seems likely that Miami will lose some players again when the national teams call for the Paris Olympics.
Messi had a few chances early, including a diving header four minutes into the match after a shot in the center of the box by Jordi Alba. Messi, avoiding any contact, sent the ball to the grass and the carom spun over the crossbar; He gave Alba the thumbs up for the idea as he stood up from the grass with a smile.
“For me it was a game in which we had to find alternatives to the attack and that is why we could not justify the incorporation of midfielders or midfielders with defensive characteristics like Benjamín Cremaschi,” said Martino. “We are a team that needs the ball to attack and win. We can go back with two lines of four, but when we enter into more offensive options with five up front we give the rival more chances to win than ourselves.”
And in the 21st minute, Messi sent a shot towards the left post, just above Robert Taylor, who would have had plenty of space to aim if he had been able to try to head it.
His goal in the 63rd minute was a typical Messi masterpiece, passing a ball between two defenders and just inside the right post, just out of reach of an Atlanta goalkeeper, Josh Cohen.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this article.
