Inter Miami crashed out of the MLS is Back tournament with defeat to New York City FC on Monday morning.
A second-half strike from Ismael Tajouri-Shradi was enough to secure the points for Ronny Deila’s men and give them a shred of hope as they look to progress to the Round of 16.
Inter Miami bows out at the Group Stage after suffering defeat in all three games, making it five straight losses to start its expansion season.
The first-half offered little in the way of meaningful chances, but there were a couple worthy of mention.
Valentin Castellanos fired over from range for NYCFC with eight minutes on the clock before Inter Miami’s Juan Agudelo forced Sean Johnson into a save low down with a powerful header two minutes later.
Credit: MLS Soccer
Nicolas Figal then came close to putting the Herons ahead in the 35th minute, but again Johnson was equal to the header, palming over.
The two teams went in goalless after a stop-start first 45 minutes which featured no fewer than 19 fouls.
The second half wasn’t a whole lot better, but NYCFC did manage to find the all-important breakthrough when Alexandru Mitriță played a ball high over the top, catching out a sluggish Miami back-line to find Tajouri-Shradi.
Tajouri-Shradi took care of the rest with a composed finish past Luis Robles.
Inter failed to respond to going behind not mustering up any real opportunity of note in the second half with playmaker Rodolfo Pizarro looking completely isolated in the final third.
In fact, NYCFC came closest to the next goal, Robles forced into a fine save low down to his left after Katon Parks took aim.
Credit: MLS Soccer
There was time to add insult to injury for Inter Miami, too. Juan Agudelo was given a second yellow and a red when he ploughed into the back of Anton Tinnerholm in the NYCFC penalty area.
It was, perhaps, an apt way to finish a disappointing tournament for Inter Miami with three defeats from three.
Of course, it is the club’s expansion year made all the more difficult by these strange circumstances, but head coach Alonso will still be disappointed with his team’s efforts in Orlando.
For NYCFC, they could progress through to the Round of 16, but they will need help elsewhere to progress through via one of the four best-placed third-team spots.
