photo credit: Inter Miami CF
Inter Miami secured a rather rocky draw against the Colorado Rapids in a match that should’ve gone their way.
Despite coming off a negative result against Monterrey a few days prior, the Herons looked to shake that off and shift their attention to the MLS regular season.
With Messi, Suarez, Busquets, and Alba starting the match on the bench, Tata Martino went with a heavily rotated side that included the likes of a fully recovered Franco Negri, Shanyder Borgelin, and Lawson Sunderland.
Although the men in pink started slowly and conceded late in the first half, the substitutions of Diego Gomez, Chelo Weigandt, and the aforementioned Busquets and Messi changed the complexion of the game.
Unfortunately, despite taking the lead in the 60th minute through Leo Afonso, Miami’s poor transition defense let them down late.
Fortunately, the Herons are still comfortably sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference, even though they have continuously dropped points.
Here are Player Ratings from Miami’s 2-2 draw vs. the Rapids.
*I’ll rate every player on a scale of 1 to 10, with 5 being average.
🧤 Drake Callendar - 7: A solid game from the US international. Guessed correctly on the penalty, but couldn’t quite save it. Let down by his transition defense.
🍝 Franco Negri - 8.4: Happy to see him back to his early 2023 best! Ran himself ragged and made for a good partner on the left flank with Jordi Alba. Excited to see how Tata uses him as the season goes on.
🐥 Noah Allen - 7.2: Better game at center back compared to previous matches. Was steady for most of the match alongside Ryan Sailor.
⛵ Ryan Sailor - 7: Conceded penalty aside, Sailor had a stable game devoid of errors and filled with excellent positional sense.
💈 David Ruiz - 8.3: Quite evident that Ruiz is growing better as a footballer with each game. He played about three positions during the match and did well in all of them.
🦩 Lawson Sunderland - 6: Didn’t impact the field much when he was on.
🦌 Tomas Avilés - 6.5: Decent outing in central midfield, although it’s clear he’s more comfortable in defense.
🥨 Julian Gressel - 7.5: He’s settled in very well to this Miami team, despite doubts from fans in preseason. Arguably one of the club’s most consistent players.
🦁 (#73) Leo Afonso - 8.3: Ran his legs off, got a goal, and made an impact when Miami needed him most. Very pleased he’s with the first team now.
🛎️ Leonardo Campana - 5: Couldn’t quite make it click before the injury. Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious.
🦒 Shanyder Borgelin - 7: The first half wasn’t great. But, admittedly, he was played out of position. Once he was able to move in centrally, he led the line well and had some excellent hold-up play.
✌️ Diego Gomez - 7.5: Loved the energy he brought off the bench. Gomez is a player that makes Miami’s system work flawlessly.
🐐 Lionel Messi - 8.5: Welcome back, Leo! Made it look easy on Miami’s first goal of the night.
🧮 Sergio Busquets - 6.8: Didn’t do anything too flashy, but kept the ball circulating well. Was smart enough to draw fouls when Miami needed a pressure valve.
🎻 Marcelo Weigandt - 6: Had a couple of good runs into the final third and put himself into good positions to combine with the midfield.
💨 Jordi Alba - 7: Really enjoyed the interplay between him and Franco Negri.
🔢 Tata Martino - 6.7: I’m giving Tata a rather ‘low’ rating mainly because of the Borgelin experiment at the beginning of the match. Like I mentioned on Twitter/X, Shanyder is a natural center forward. Asking him to hug the touchline didn’t play to his strengths. Once Campana was subbed off due to injury, everything tactical went a bit better for him in that regard.
“The most important thing is that he was feeling better and comfortable and he was feeling loose.”
“It’s sad that we gave up two goals, but we continued to make mistakes that give up points.”
“Those postional swiches were due to rotation. Aviles was planned to play 60 minutes and Busquets around 30".
He also said the injury to Afonso forced Miami into keeping Negri on the pitch longer than normal.
Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below! Let’s discuss it!
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