Lionel Messi went goalless for a second straight game as Inter Miami needed Riquelme Fillipi’s 90th-minute equaliser to draw 2-2 with FC Cincinnati, after Luis Suárez’s opener was cancelled out by Kenji Mboma Dem and Samuel Gidi. He had come on late in a 2-0 loss at the Red Bulls.
Miami, Florida: The man Inter Miami build their nights around went quiet again. On Wednesday, with the regular season running down, Messi was booked in the first half and finished without a goal or an assist, and it took a substitute’s late strike to stop a side that had controlled possession from losing at home.
Messi stays quiet
Messi had come off the bench in the 56th minute of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at the New York Red Bulls, a game he joined after travelling to Spain to collect the Princess of Asturias Award for Sport. He started against Cincinnati but was tightly marked, and Miami struggled to turn a possession advantage into chances before the break. Before the Red Bulls game he had 25 goals and 15 assists in MLS this season; he added neither in the two matches that followed.
Suárez makes the breakthrough
With Messi contained, Luis Suárez broke the deadlock in the 61st minute. Casemiro found him inside the box, and the Uruguayan took a touch before curling a right-footed shot into the top corner. Rodrigo De Paul was credited with an assist on the move, and the goal gave Miami the lead they had spent an hour chasing.
Cincinnati hit back
The lead lasted 19 minutes. Mboma Dem ran at the Miami defence with a series of stepovers, cut inside from the right and curled his finish into the far corner in the 80th minute. Six minutes later, Gidi put Cincinnati in front, scoring his first goal for the club, and the visitors looked set to take all three points.
Fillipi’s late rescue
Fillipi, on as a substitute in the 83rd minute, had other ideas. In the 90th minute he took a pass from De Paul on the left, cut back inside a defender and bent a shot into the far corner. It was his first goal for the club. Miami finished with 14 shots to Cincinnati’s 13 and 58.6 per cent of the possession.
What it means
The draw leaves Miami on 56 points from 32 games, with a record of 15 wins, six defeats and 11 draws. They sit third in the Eastern Conference, two points behind New England, and visit the Revolution in Foxborough on Sunday before closing the regular season at home to Charlotte on 7 November. Cincinnati stay eighth on 43 points, level with Orlando City but behind on the first tiebreaker, and host Philadelphia Union on Saturday. The top nine in the East make the playoffs, with the eighth and ninth seeds meeting in a wild-card match.
Miami’s attack carried them through October, including Messi’s double in the win at Atlanta United and the 4-0 win over D.C. United, but the last two games have asked questions of that attack.
Result: Inter Miami 2-2 FC Cincinnati (MLS regular season, Nu Stadium, Miami)
Inter Miami: Suárez 61’, Fillipi 90’
FC Cincinnati: Mboma Dem 80’, Gidi 86’
