Inter Miami Fall 3-0 to Nashville in First Ever Playoff Match

In the battle of the expansion sides Friday night, Nashville SC’s dominant performance over Inter Miami CF was more than enough to see their season past the play-in round of the MLS Playoffs. By a scoreline of 3-0, Nashville showed out on both sides of the ball and sent Inter Miami packing with questions about the future.

In what was a lackluster performance, to say the least, Inter Miami found themselves down by two goals by the 23rd minute. A Randall Leal stunner and a penalty from the star man Hany Mukhtar put the Herons down early.

Tactically, Diego Alonso had this game all wrong from the start. The first 25 minutes of this match were an absolute disaster. The five at the back formation provided Nashville the chance to control the game and possession, then score twice. There was no sense of urgency from Inter Miami off of kickoff and no cohesion within the team.

Defensively, Miami struggled to clear the ball off the pitch. And what I mean by that is, Alvas Powell instinctively cleared the ball to the middle of the field what felt like every chance he had, and it ruined Miami’s chances early on. Other defenders were the same way, but Powell just did this very noticeably, considering it led to the first goal.

When on the ball, the passing was never crisp, rarely positive, and provided nothing. The movement off the ball from the players when in possession was also shambolic, and this team, after a full season together, still had not seemed to find the chemistry they were meant to.

Why? Well, in A.J. DeLaGarza’s words,

“Communication has to be better. Language barriers have to be better. Too many guys don’t speak Spanish, too many don’t speak English, and that leads to not communicating on the field.”

Franco Panizo of SBI Soccer said on his Twitter page that he noticed earlier on in the year at the MLS is Back Tournmanent that he caught Victor Ulloa translating words back to Diego Alonso.

Now, DeLaGarza is quoted as saying that the language barrier among players and staff has been a problem not just for this game but all year long.

How is a team meant to play cohesively when things cant be communicated among the players? How are they meant to succeed if the manager’s tactics may not come across clearly? Maybe I’m overblowing this. Maybe this is a minor issue that hadn’t had a drastic effect this season. If it’s not? Then man, was this club doomed from the start or what.

Moving on past those first 25 minutes, even being down 2-0, things were looking a little better. Diego Alonso was forced to make an early tactical change. Matias Pellegrini was subbed on for Dylan Nealis in the 33rd minute, and Alonso switched the formation to a back four. It might have just been a simple fact that they played two-nil down, but this change seemed to make this game a little bit more bearable to watch.

The possession numbers ended up being an even 50-50 by the 54th minute. That says a lot considering at the 25th-minute mark, the possession numbers were 73-27 in favor of Nashville. The game was changed greatly once Alonso decided to ditch his original tactics, but my word, there are still so many things to question from the rest of this game.

Lewis Morgan has started every single game for Inter Miami on the right-wing. Matias Pellegrini was used mostly on the left-wing this season, although he had spent some time as a number 10. When Pellegrini was subbed on, he and Morgan were on opposite wings most of the match for some very odd reason. Why? If there was anything this team had been consistent with this season, it was receiving service from their right-winger, Lewis Morgan. For them to have been on opposite sides the majority of the match after the substitution is truly mind-boggling and likely had an effect on this team going forward.

Then you look at the third goal conceded. Fair play to Dax McCarty, who took the space he was given and found the back of the net, but no one closed him down. Matuidi barely tried to catch him after being beaten while we lightly jogged in the midfield, and not one defender thought to close down. They let Dax legitimately run from the half-way line to the top of the box and still let him get a shot off. Woeful is the best word I could use to describe how poor the defending was on this play.

Outside of the three goals conceded, that was about it. At times, the game was dead, and Miami struggled even in possession to get any clear chances inside the box. Even with the formation change, it was still the same Miami side we had seen all year that struggled to create and convert chances. To concede three goals to a team that had only done so four times all year and is known for their defense is awful. Both defensively and offensively, Miami struggled and put out a poor showing.

It’s a disappointing but deserved result. Yes, Higuain and LGP were out with COVID. But that doesn’t change the fact that you had all week to set this match up tactically, and you came out with possibly the worst 25 minutes of the season! More has to be done; more should’ve been done earlier, considering the team’s expectations. Making the playoffs in your inaugural year is a great feat, but to scrape by and barely make it then put on a poor showing in a do-or-die game, isn’t good enough.

This match and the entire season should be enough to give management and the players a reality check, and hopefully, they can improve in 2021. The city and the fans deserve it.

It might’ve been disappointing; it might’ve really sucked to lose a lot of games this year. But professional soccer is back in South Florida, and that’s a win in my book.