Former Inter Miami MVP Lewis Morgan leads New York Red Bulls vs. his old team Sunday

Inter Miami, with a full healthy squad for the first time in weeks, hopes to get in the win column on Sunday at home against the New York Red Bulls after settling for a pair of ties its previous two games.

Forward Robbie Robinson, center back Aime Mabika, winger/left back Brek Shea and goalkeeper Nick Marsman are all back from injury. Marsman trained only one day, so coach Phil Neville said he will start Drake Callender, who has played well in his four starts.

“All our players are chomping at the bit to play, there’s a lot of competition,” Neville said. “We have some players who won’t make the bench this weekend.”

They face a tough challenge against the New York Red Bulls, who have the league’s best road record and are in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. Miami sits in 12th place.

New York won both meetings against Miami last year. The first one they won 4-0 and the second 1-0.

“They beat us quite convincingly last year, they play a distinctive style, and have players who can hurt us,” Neville said.

The game marks the return of Scottish winger Lewis Morgan, the Inter Miami MVP in 2020 who was traded to the Red Bulls after last season. Miami got $1.2 million in general allocation money for Morgan, a 25-year-old known for his work rate, speed on the wings and crosses.

Morgan was a fan favorite among Miami fans and wasted no time making an impact with the Red Bulls. He scored a hat trick early in the season and leads his new team with five goals.

“The fans loved him, and we loved him, he’s a great lad,” Neville said of Morgan. “He did brilliant things for us, but we had to make tough decisions to rebuild our squad and unfortunately he was part of that. We know what his qualities are, and that is why the Red Bulls paid so much money for him. We wish him all the best, except for the 90 minutes on Sunday. We’ll have to mark him tightly.”

Midfielder Victor Ulloa remains friends with Morgan.

“The fans here are going to embrace him, he did great things for us,” Ulloa said. “Unfortunately, now we’re rivals, but it will be nice to see him.”

New York is known for his relentless pressing style. They key to beating them, Ulloa said, is to break their front line of press and then take advantage of the spaces that open up.

Both teams are coming off ties. New York tied Chicago Fire on Wednesday and Miami had a scoreless tie on the road against Philadelphia Union. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. and the game will be televised on My33 and UniMas.