Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, showed no love for Lionel Messi on Tuesday night, booing the Argentine Inter Miami star during warmups before the Leagues Cup semifinal match against the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park.
Messi was unfazed, uncorking his ninth goal in six games to help lead Miami to a 4-1 rout and a spot in the tournament championship game Saturday night. Inter Miami, a last-place team in MLS enjoying a remarkable turnaround, will play the final on the road against Nashville SC for a chance to raise the first trophy in team history.
After scoring just 22 goals in the first 22 games of the season, Inter Miami has scored 21 goals in the past six games since Messi joined the squad. After suffering through an 11-game winless streak, Miami has won six games in a row.
And winning on the road at Philadelphia was no small feat, as the Union had won 28 of its past 29 home games dating to last season. The Union had allowed just four goals total over its first five Leagues Cup games and conceded four against Miami on Tuesday.
Josef Martinez got things going early for Miami in the third minute with a one-touch right-footed shot after collecting a long through ball from center back Serhiy Kryvstov. Then, in the 20th minute, Kryvstov once again delivered a deep pass, this one to Martinez, who sent it to Messi, and the Argentine worked his magic.
There was some question entering the game as to whether Messi was fully healthy, as he appeared to tweak his left ankle in training Monday morning. If he was in any discomfort, it certainly did not show.
Messi launched a cross-body rocket of a shot with his lethal left foot from 28 yards out into the bottom right corner to make it 2-0. He broke into a huge grin and leaped into the air to celebrate.
The crowd had plenty of pink jerseys and Argentine blue and white striped Messi jerseys, and those fans celebrated Messi’s goal.
Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin was not surprised to see the buzz around Messi.
“Of course, I think if you’re even a Union fan you should respect and love how Messi plays the game and how he is as a human being and as a teammate,” Curtin said. “So, that part I’m OK with. Was there a lot of pink? Sure. That’s going to be the case anywhere he goes. I grew up in Philadelphia. I’m a 76ers fan, but I also love Michael Jordan. There is a little element of that.
“He’s global. He’s literally the best to ever play our sport and the way he does, he’s humble. You can tell. I’m not saying I know him, but I can tell how people act when they’re on the field when they’re the best player and are still down to earth and want to win. To produce like he does, over and over, when he really doesn’t have to produce anymore.”
After Messi’s goal, Jordi Alba got in on the fun, racing up the left sideline to reach a perfect pass from Robert Taylor, and then making a decisive finish to the far post to widen the lead to 3-0 in first-half extra time. Alba, whose wife had their third child last month, celebrated the goal by making a heart with his hands and then sucking his thumb and pointing to the camera.
Philadelphia fans, clearly unhappy with their team’s performance, booed loudly as the Union players ran into the tunnel toward the locker room at halftime and again after the game.
Curtin said in the lead-up to the game that a key to stopping Inter Miami and Messi was to cut off service from Sergio Busquets. The Union had a defender smothering Busquets, which left Kryvstov open to deliver many of the passes Busquets usually does.
“We set ourselves up for failure by making a big mistake in the third minute and we were chasing the game from there,” Curtin said at halftime. “Maybe we were too excited, maybe showed them a little too much respect. We were humbled a little bit, punished by a really good Miami team. We’re not happy.”
Curtin made changes at halftime, made things more difficult for Messi and Co., and South Florida native Alejandro Bedoya put the Union on the board after getting his foot on the ball in a scrum off a corner kick in the 73rd minute. The Union led Miami with 16 shots to five, but Miami keeper Drake Callender made a handful of big saves and then late-game sub David Ruiz scored for Miami in the 84th minute off a DeAndre Yedlin assist.
The Leagues Cup winner earns automatic qualification to the Round of 16 of the CONCACAF Champions League. The runner-up as well as the third-place match winner also qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.
“Our team next year will play in an international tournament, which was our goal,” Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said. “In addition to earning a spot in the [Leagues Cup] final with today’s win, the most important thing is we qualified for the CONCACAF Champions [League] and now we have to prepare to win the title. That has us highly motivated and confident, but we are not allowing that to distract us from what we need as a team to get better. We don’t confuse our success so far with realizing we still have a long way to go.”
SOURCE: GraphicOnline
