Here is what you need to know as Inter Miami faces ‘crunch time’ road game vs. Atlanta
It isn’t time to take out the calculators just yet, but Inter Miami enters its road game against Atlanta United on Wednesday desperate to get the playoff push back on track after being derailed by a pair of lopsided home losses.
With nine games to go, only six points separates 10th-place Miami from fourth-place Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta is in eighth place, on the cusp of the playoff line. The top seven teams make the playoffs.
“What we saw from the weekend results is there are going to be a lot of twists and turns left in this league,” Miami coach Phil Neville said. “There are nine, 10 games to go, seven for some teams. There’s going to be plenty of twists and turns to come. It’s about the team that stays with it, that doesn’t panic, that grinds out results at this time of the season.”
Inter Miami, which climbed up the standings during a 7-3-1 stretch, fell a few notches after losing 4-0 to New York Red Bulls and 5-1 to Nashville. Neville says it is “crunch time” and has challenged all his players — especially the highest-paid designated players — to lay it all on the line from here on out.
“The nine games we’ve got left, you look at your biggest players, the DP players, it’s now time to deliver for Rodolfo [Pizarro], Gonzalo [Higuain], Blaise [Matuidi] and rest of the team,” Neville said. “You want your biggest players to stand up and show that character, personality and that drive and determination. That’s what I’m looking for. We need goals from Rodolfo, goals from Gonzalo and great performances from Blaise. You can’t slip up. We’ve had our little blip, hopefully, and we can come out of it now.”
Despite having the most expensive roster in the league, Miami has been struggling to score with just four goals during the past six games and a league-low 25 goals all season. Their minus-15 goal differential is fourth worst in the league.
Atlanta, meanwhile, has been on a positive run since Gonzalo Pineda took over as coach five games ago after the departure of Gabriel Heinz. Before last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Philadelphia, Atlanta beat Orlando, Cincinnati and D.C. by a combined score of 10-2.
Although Miami has not lost to Atlanta in five previous meetings, this game (7 p.m., My33, CW34) presents big challenges. When Miami beat and tied Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last season, there were no fans in the stands. This time, a big crowd is expected.
Miami will be without suspended center back Nico Figal and captain/midfielder Gregore. The team’s makeshift back line was left exposed against Nashville, and Atlanta has dangerous players such as Venezuelan Josef Martinez and Brazilian Luiz Araujo.
“We have a game where if you don’t have the mentality, determination, team spirit and togetherness we’ve shown at times this season then it’s going to be a real difficult occasion,” Neville said. “It’s a beautiful stadium — one of the best in MLS — on a pitch that’s perfect against a team that has outstanding individuals and a new manager who wants to impress, as well. They’ve been on a great run and got themselves in a brilliant position to get into a playoff space.”
The next four games are on the road for Inter Miami. The team flies from Atlanta to Portland on Thursday morning and plays the Timbers on Sunday (5:30 p.m., FS1).
“It’s a critical period where we’re going away for five days and we can really come together as a team,” he said. “We’ll be living, breathing with each other all the time. We need everyone fighting in the same direction, fighting with the same positive mentality we had before the previous two disappointing games.”
Pizarro said the players were in a better mood by Monday, united and energized again.
“Those two losses really hurt us, we gave up too many goals and were missing the right attitude,” Pizarro said. “We have to get back to how we were before. We get Leandro (Gonzalez Pirez) back (from suspension), so that will help a lot. We just need a few wins to be close to the playoffs.”
Pineda expects a tough game from Miami.
“When you see on the roster both Higuains, you see Matuidi, Gregore is not available, but Figal and Gonzalez Pirez…we know they have two absences for this one, but it’s a very good roster,” Pineda said. “[Julian] Carranza, Pizarro, all those guys that are tricky in the midfield, fantastic players. It’s never easy. We have to take this game very seriously. They’re fighting for their lives. We’re doing the same. I think it’s going to be a good, entertaining game.”
