Two years after his landing in MLS and accumulating disappointments, Lionel Messi gave Inter Miami their first league title this Saturday by beating Vancouver 3-1, in what was the farewell to professional football for the Spaniards Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
It was a sunny and hot afternoon in Fort Lauderdale, in the north of Miami, ideal for the MLS Cup. Minute 71. That's when the match started to slip away from Vancouver, which never dominated or had opportunities again as nerves began to take over its players. Busquets and Messi, in their last dance, controlled the passing of the minutes until in added time, with the crowd behind them, the Argentine star delivered his second lethal assist of the afternoon, this time to Allende, who sealed the deal with the 3-1. There was no time for more.
Fortune smiled on them right from the start, with the 1-0 in the 8th minute thanks to an own goal from Vancouver in an unlucky play by Colombian Édier Ocampo. Messi started the move with a brilliant pass to Rodrigo de Paul who opened out to the right flank for Tadeo Allende, who put in a cross that was meant for Matteo Silvetti but that Ocampo pushed in without Yohei Takaoka being able to do anything. That right flank with Messi and Allende created danger in the initial part of the match.
Inter Miami: Rocco Ríos; Ian Fray (Marcelo Weigandt, m.90+1), Maximiliano Falcón, Noah Allen, Jordi Alba; Rodrigo de Paul, Sergio Busquets, Baltasar Rodríguez (Telasco Segovia, m.56); Matteo Silvetti (Yannick Bright, m.78), Tadeo Allende and Lionel Messi.
Coach: Javier Mascherano.
- Messi stole a ball in a dangerous area from Andrés Cubas and gave it to Rodrigo de Paul who was left alone in front of Takaoka to make it 2-1 on the scoreboard.
He booked Rodríguez, Falcón, De Paul, White, Ocampo, Blackman, Cubas and Laborda.
Incidents: Final of the MLS Cup played at the Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) in front of 21,500 spectators. To the farewell of Busquets and Messi was added a new duel between Messi and the German Thomas Müller, captain of the Canadians. Destiny seemed to have conspired so that this time, Inter, could indeed touch success.
2-1, m.71: Rodrigo de Paul. Silvetti had the second at his feet on another cross from Allende, but the ball got away from him between his legs. From there, Vancouver began to overcome the hostile environment of Miami, getting closer to Rocco Ríos' goal with a lot of danger and dominating Mascherano's men.
Vancouver puts up a fight
Vancouver maintained the pressure with which it had closed the first half until it collected the reward for the equalizer in the 60th minute. Sabbi started on the right and ceded to White in the front that, with his back to the goal, set up Ali Ahmed, who defined to the near post and converted after an error by the Argentine goalkeeper Ríos, whose save ended in the back of the net. Almost without time to assimilate the equalizer, Sabbi signed a play in which he broke lines, planted himself in the danger zone and shot a ball that hit both posts, with great fortune for Inter. Just at that moment, when Vancouver was playing its best, Inter Miami went ahead again.
The pharaonic project of David Beckham and the Mas brothers, which recreated Miami and the MLS of Josep Guardiola's Barcelona, thus reached its greatest sporting success five years after its debut.
-
Technical sheet:
-
Vancouver: Yohei Takaoka; Mathías Laborda, Ralph Priso (Joedrick Pupe, m.68), Tristan Blackmon, Édier Ocampo; Andrés Cubas (Kenji Cabrera, m.82), Sebastian Berhalter Ali Ahmed (Ryan Gauld, m.68), Thomas Müller, Emmanuel Sabbi (Jayden Nelson, m.90+1); Brian White.
Coach: Jesper Sørensen.
Goals: 1-0, m.8: Édier Ocampo, own goal. 3-1, m.90+6: Tadeo Allende.
Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada).
1-1, m.60: Ali Ahmed.
