Late drama give Inter Miami 1-1 draw against Philadelphia

Inter Miami battled against another top club in the Eastern Conference in the Philadelphia Union on July 25th at the DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, FL. They did a bit better than their last time out as they were able to come away with a point after a hard fought 1-1 draw.

A few changes were made to the starting lineup since the collapse against the New England Revolution. Kieran Gibbs gets his first start with the club, replacing Christian Makoun. A big change saw Gregore replace Blaise Matuidi in the middle of the pitch and with Rodolfo Pizzaro playing in the Gold Cup for Mexico, Federico Higuain takes his place.

From the start, things were looking much better for Inter Miami as they were keeping their formation tight and had much better control of the ball. The communication between the midfield and backline was much more apparent and on top of it all there was effort being displayed. The Herons were dominating possession and were forcing Philadelphia to play long balls over the top, which they weren’t connecting on very often. This was disrupting the Unions rhythm on the attacking side, which is why they were only able to put together one shot on goal in the entire half.

Unfortunately, this did not help Inter Miami’s inconsistencies on the attacking side as they were only able to create two shots on goal of their own. There just isn’t enough intensity to create offense. You can literally see frustration in the stands as fans are urging the players to push down the field instead of playing passive like they have over this putrid stretch of offense in the passed six games (1 goal scored in the last 540+ minutes).

To put it lightly this attack is missing players with confidence. Last year, Lewis Morgan was great and was constantly making things happen in attack with his creativity and playmaking. That has not been there as much this season. Gonzalo Higuain continues to struggle to find space and opportunities to use that leg Inter Miami paid so much for. As for Rodolfo Pizarro, I have yet to feel his presence throughout his tenure with Inter Miami, so I don’t actually expect much from him anyways. Honestly, I’ve felt more electricity in the stadium when Robbie Robinson gets the ball at his feet. He has solid pace and technical skills to go with decent striking ability, which was all on display in this game.

The first half would end at 0-0 as neither club had it going offensively and struggled to get clear shots at goal. However, if you are an Inter Miami fan you had to have been happy with the way your club competed in that first half. The defense looked sharp and were rarely out of position. I’m still not a big fan of Jorge Figal, but Leandro Gonzalez Pirez & Ryan Shawcross were a solid center back pairing.

The second half was even stronger from Inter Miami as they were pressuring Philadelphia from the kickoff. This gave them plenty of possession as well opportunities to try and find a goal and really liven this game up. There were a few set piece opportunities that just didn’t go their way, but you can tell that the momentum was primarily with the Herons and as you were watching this game you were hoping that it could lead to a goal.

That goal would eventually come as substitute defender Bret Shea started the counter on the left flank and found Higuain in the middle of the pitch, who delivered a perfect through ball for Robinson behind the back line. He made the run into the box and shot a very accurate ball passed Union goalkeeper Matt Freese to make it 1-0 in the 71’.

As we have seen before as Inter Miami fans, when the team scores they relax a bit too much and allow the opposing team to control the game and equalize. However, the Herons stayed aggressive and nearly score a second goal a few moments later after some beautiful control from Higuain got him into the box, he found Robinson again and he missed just wide of the goal. Even Shea got into the action with a shot on goal.

Unfortunately, what I was afraid of occurred as Philadelphia started to control the game with Miami parking the bus to hold onto the three points. This gave them plenty of space to find attacking opportunities and they would eventually score the equalizer when substitute Quinn Sullivan attempt at goal was saved by Nick Marsman and striker Kasper Przybylko was there to clean it up to make it 1-1 in the 85’ to spoil a strong performance from Inter Miami.

Overall, this was a very encouraging response from the club after an embarrassing defeat to the New England Revolution. Manager Phil Neville had to make some difficult decisions with his starting lineup, but they proved to be strong ones. Especially the insertion of midfielder Gregore over Matuidi as he was the captain for the game and was everywhere for the Herons. He finished with two tackles, four interceptions, one successful dribble and completed 83.6% of his 55 passes.

After the game, Neville was adamant about the effort his team showed tonight saying “I’m massively proud of the players tonight, I think we deserved the victory. I thought that their attitude, commitment, desire, everything that you wanted to see in a team and everything you want to see as a supporter that we talked about yesterday, they gave.” He is absolutely right, but he also understands that this is a standard they can’t drop from. “We had a lot of good performances. I don’t want that to drop below that level now, that’s the level that they’ve set. They’ve shown everyone that’s their level, they drop below that now they’re letting themselves down.”

Next for Inter Miami, they continue their home stand as they take on CF Montreal on Saturday, July 31st at 8:00 PM. A chance for some revenge after losing to them 2-0 at home a few months ago. As for the Philadelphia Union, they will be going back home to take on the Chicago Fire on Sunday August 1st at 6:00 PM. The last time these teams faced off it was an incredible 3-3 finish in June.