Yahoo Sports Inter Miami “angry” after dropping to last place in East with 1-0 road loss at Montreal
Inter Miami dropped to last place in the East with a 1-0 road loss at CF Montreal, and it was a familiar player delivering the assist on Montreal’s winning goal.
Speedy winger Ariel Lassiter, who was traded from Miami to Montreal in mid-April, came off the bench at halftime and made an immediate impact. He sent a strong cross from the left flank to Chinonso Offer, who crashed it into the back post from close range in the 53rd minute.
“He’s quite quick, so I tried to give him a little bit of cushion because I was thinking he was just going to push it down the line, and then he ended up putting a really dangerous ball in the box exactly where you want to put it,” Inter Miami defender DeAndre Yedlin said of Lassiter’s cross. “Their guys got there first. But even with that, we definitely had our chances to win that game.”
Miami dominated possession 58 percent to 42 percent and took 13 shots, five of them on frame, but failed to find the back of the net. Only two of Montreal’s 14 shots were on goal, but Offer’s finish was enough for the victory.
Eight of Inter Miami’s scoring chances came from inside the box. In the final five minutes a blistering, long-distance shot from Nico Stefanelli clanked off the crossbar, an angled shot from Benja Cremaschi hit the right post and another Stefanelli shot was blocked. Earlier in the second half, Franco Negri, Josef Martinez, Sergiy Kryvtsov, Coco Jean and Leo Campana had scoring opportunities, but nobody finished.
Asked about the mood in the locker room after the defeat, Miami’s third in a row in league play, coach Phil Neville said: “They’re really angry. I’m angry. It’s a game we should win with the chances we created, the moments we had. I never thought they caused us many problems. The cross from Ari in the second half was the chance they got, but other than that they huffed and puffed a little bit…we had three or four incredible opportunities, and with a little more composure, we score goals.”
Over the season thus far Inter Miami has scored 14 goals in 14 games. Only Montreal (13) and New York Red Bulls (10) have scored fewer in the East. Miami plays the Red Bulls at home on Wednesday.
Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirios made five big saves for his fifth shutout of the season and defender Joel Waterman made a critical clearance in the waning minutes.
“I thought their defense played really well and their keeper made some outstanding saves, but I thought we had moments where we’ve just got to take the extra touch, put it into the corners and we didn’t do that. That’s my anger and disappointment. This is a really tough place to come, they’re on a good run, but I feel as if we were the better team.”
Montreal moved to eighth place in the East with a 6-8-0 record (18 points), while Miami (5-9-0, 15 points) slipped to 15th in a tight conference race. Only three points separates last place from eighth place with three teams at 18 points, four teams at 16 and Miami at 15.
“We’re frustrated,” Yedlin said. “We deserved a win, if not, at least a draw.”
Lassiter was not the only familiar face on the Montreal roster Saturday.
Bryce Duke, the other Miami player traded to Montreal in exchange for defender Kamal Miller and $1.3 million, started Saturday but was replaced in the second half. Saturday was the first time Lassiter and Duke played against their former team.
Duke has become a focal point of the Montreal attack. He has scored one goal and recorded an assist since joining the team. Lassiter has started six league games and scored his first goal for Montreal on Tuesday in the Canadian Cup semifinal against Forge.
Some Inter Miami fans have been critical of the team and Neville over the losing run. Yedlin said it’s too early to focus on the standings and urged the fan base to stick with them.
“We have great players, especially in the attack, who are capable of scoring a lot of goals,” Yedlin said. “I think it will come. We need to keep our lows high, our highs low and stay balanced and keep moving forward. To the fans I would say thank you for supporting us and believing in us. It may seem hard right now but continue to put your trust in us. We’ll figure this out and ultimately get this club to where it deserves to be.”
Stefanelli and Coco Jean sustained “slight injuries” and will be evaluated when they get back to South Florida, Neville said.
