Fort Lauderdale, Florida – It was a dramatic game in south Florida as the Chicago Fire are able to outlast Inter Miami in what was the perfect game for a neutral fan.
It only took Chicago 38 minutes to get out to their 2-0 lead. The goals coming from Chris Mueller and Carlos Teran with the latter coming from a near impossible angle after sloppy defending in the box from a ball over top. Teran was able to out strength multiple Miami defenders before unleashing and absolute rocket of a shot into the roof of Drake Callender’s goal.
Chicago was looking to simply cruise into the second half with their two-goal lead, but an absolutely lovely move by Inter’s Franco Negri, whose touch set him up for outside the boot shot that’d see Miami pull within just one with the last kick of the half.
The Fire did everything they could to keep their goal advantage in the second half after switching to the combination of the 3-back/5-back formation, but it would be for nothing as the man who helped set up the first goal for Miami would do the same for the second as Negri would be able to loft a ball to the back post and the last man you’d expect to win the header did just that. The 5-foot 5-inch Argentian Nicolás Stefanelli would be the man to rise up and even things up for Miami in the 76th minute.
The remaining 14 minutes looked to be all Miami as their constant pressure on the Chicago goal had everyone in the DRV PNK Stadium thinking it’d be Inter to get the deciding goal. Who else though would rise to the occasion for Chicago other Kei Kamara, the longtime MLS vet would be able to be on the receiving end of a Brian Gutiérrez solo run. Kamara would take his chance and slot home the goal in the 92nd minute to give Chicago all three points on the road. Kamara broke a MLS record as that goal marked scoring for 10 different MLS clubs. He had this to say after the game.
“Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m going to be really, really bad today and people are going to think I’m lying, but it wasn’t really about my goal, or really focusing to say I’m scoring for another team and it was really about how we played the past, you know, three games and not being able to close it out and get a win. So it felt so much bigger than me scoring that goal for the rest of us because, you know, it gives us a lot of belief that what we’ve been working on, since I’ve been here for the past three, four weeks now, that it’s paying off.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR INTER MIAMI?
After a bright start for Inter Miami, the bubble seems to be bursting for Phil Nevill’s side after their first lost at home and their third in a row. Neville had this to say about the game.
“ I can’t fault their commitment, their effort, their drive, their determination to try to get back in the game from going two goals down. That for me was really admirable… That’s the evolution of a team that’s new and young, not young in age but young in build. We’ve got to learn fast.”
Miami will have the chance to turn things around and hopefully it won’t be a prank as they travel to face FC Cincinatti on April 1st, at 7:30pm ET.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE CHICAGO FIRE?
The Fire will be hoping to keep this momentum as they notch their first win of the season. especially after how they’ve made a habit of blowing early goal this season as they did the same thing last week to F.C Cincinatti, where unlike this week they weren’t able to reclaim the lead.
They’ll have that chance on April 1st, at 8:30pm ET in a late-night clash when they host Wayne Rooney’s D.C United.
Inter Miami
