Messi, Inter Miami have reason to be worried about Atlanta as playoffs kick off Friday
The Inter Miami home crowd was relieved and elated after Luis Suarez scored twice in the span of three minutes to tie it up 2-2 with the New England Revolution just before halftime of the regular-season finale last Saturday at Chase Stadium.
But Miami coach Tata Martino was in no mood to celebrate as his team gathered in the locker room to discuss plans for the second half. Inter Miami had given up a goal in the second minute of the game, gone down by two, and the men in pink were not looking like the best team in the league.
“The first thing I said to the team during intermission was that if we made those errors in a playoff, we’d be eliminated,” Martino said. “I didn’t start by discussing how to correct what we did; I thought it was most important for them to have a clear understanding of what had happened, even though we had tied the game at that point.
“If you commit errors in a playoff…well, in the first round [best-of-3 series] against Atlanta there is some margin for error. But if we advance and play like that in the [elimination] rounds, we’ll be out.”
Miami wound up winning after Lionel Messi scored an 11-minute hat trick off the bench. The club hosted a postgame ceremony to celebrate the Supporters’ Shield, complete with pink fireworks, but the team is hungry for its first MLS Cup.
“We celebrated the Supporters’ Shield, just like other teams have, but we have not lost sight of the fact that the most important part of the season begins now,” Martino said Thursday.
Goalkeeper Drake Callender echoed Martino’s sentiments.
“Winning the Supporters’ Shield shows a lot about the consistency we had all season, four losses, eight ties and 22 wins, plus the points record, so it’s something to be proud of,” Callender said. “But it’s still not over. There’s an opportunity to lift another trophy and prove why we got the Supporters’ Shield. We didn’t come this far just to come this far.”
On paper, Inter Miami is the heavy favorite after breaking the league record with 74 points. Messi is coming off back-to-back hat tricks last week — one for Argentina and one for Inter Miami. Messi and Suarez have 20 goals apiece and are finalists for league MVP. Martino is a finalist for Coach of the Year, Jordi Alba is a finalist for Top Defender, Suarez is up for Newcomer of the Year and Diego Gomez is a finalist for Young Player of the Year.
Atlanta United needed a penalty-kick shootout in Tuesday’s wild card game against CF Montreal to reach Friday’s game while Inter Miami secured the Supporters’ Shield and home-field advantage weeks ago. But Martino and his players are taking nothing for granted.
Inter Miami lost only four of 34 games this season and one of them was to Atlanta United, 3-1 on May 29. That was the last time Miami lost at home.
Messi scored in that game, but it wasn’t enough. Saba Lobjanidze scored twice that day and Jamal Thiare scored Atlanta’s third goal.
The teams met a second time in Atlanta on Sept. 18 and Inter Miami, with a makeshift lineup and its stars coming in late off the bench, left the field gutted after settling for a 2-2 tie following an 84th-minute dagger from Atlanta’s Alexey Miranchuk.
Miami had just three regular starters in the lineup that day, Callender, Marcelo Weigandt and Julian Gressel. Messi, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba were left out of the starting lineup to rest, and Sergio Busquets was suspended for yellow card accumulation. Martino was also suspended and watched the game from a stadium suite.
David Ruiz and Leo Campana scored for Inter Miami.
“Atlanta is a tough opponent,” Alba said Friday. “In this league, any team can beat you. There are unexpected results, but that shows the league is growing. But I am not worried. We will be prepared. We are eager to win and we have the advantage of playing at home. Hopefully, we can get to the final and win.”
Asked his opinion on the playoff format, which is not used in most European leagues, Alba said he feels it would be more fair to have a championship match between the Eastern Conference regular-season champion (Inter Miami) and Western Conference champion (LAFC), but the team is prepared for the playoff system.
The game has extra significance for Martino, who led Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title. Miami midfielder Julian Gressel was also on that team.
“My history with Atlanta was lovely, we enjoyed it very much,” Martino said. “It was an expansion club, so we enjoyed the launch, and everything transpired the next two years, independent of winning the MLS Cup. So, it will always be special for me to play against Atlanta.”
WHEN THEY PLAY
Atlanta and Miami open Round 1 on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale before heading to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for Game 2 on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, is back in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 9 at 8 p.m.
INTER MIAMI vs ATLANTA UNITED TICKETS
Tickets for Game 1 at Chase Stadium are available through TicketMaster and on secondary online ticket outlets such as StubHub, Vivid Seats and SeatGeek.
HOW TO WATCH
The opening game will be broadcast free on Apple TV and on a special Messi-focused TikTok livestream (registration is required).
MLS PLAYOFF FORMAT
If Inter Miami wins its first-round series, it will face Orlando City (the No. 4 seed) or Charlotte FC (No. 5) in the Eastern Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24 at Chase Stadium, as Miami earned home-field advantage for the duration of the playoffs by winning the Supporters’ Shield with the league’s best regular-season record.
