Inter Miami’s road to the MLS championship will have to take a detour towards a final match in the first round following a 2-1 loss to Atlanta United on Saturday in a dramatic end to the game.
Xande Silva scored with about a minute left in extra time in the second half, just minutes after Lionel Messi had a goal disallowed due to offside to give the team this important victory. Atlanta.
This series is now tied 1-1 and will require a third game to decide this first round clash.
Silva fired a right-footed shot into the top left corner to beat goalkeeper Drake Callender in the 94th minute. The Atlanta player celebrated his victory by ripping off his jersey and dancing in front of the fans’ section at Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the crowd of 68,455 people celebrated happily.
Messi had many good chances to score, but only found the back of the net with the flag raised for offside. Atlanta United then took off in the other direction for Silva’s game-winning goal.
United recovered from a 1-0 halftime deficit, the result of a huge mistake by goalkeeper Brad Guzan, to force a deciding game next Saturday in South Florida. Atlanta has a chance to pull off a major upset, having finished 34 points behind Messi’s team, which won the MLS regular season title and broke the league points record.
Derrick Williams tied the game in the 58th minute for Atlanta after a corner was batted away. Pedro Amador returned a cross into the box and Williams dived to score.
A blunder by Guzan allowed Miami to open the scoring in the 40th minute.
After easily taking a cross into the box, Guzan went for the ball, but he tripped, allowing David Martínez to recover the ball to find the back of the net and put Miami ahead.
The 40-year-old goalkeeper claimed to have been hampered by Redondo, but the restart clearly showed that Guzan had fallen.
Messi missed at least three shots, going wide on several occasions before firing over the net in the 83rd. Messi was seen walking away, rubbing his beard, visibly frustrated by his lack of precision.
In the 89th minute, United missed a chance to take the lead when Saba Lobjanidze hit the crossbar. Bartosz Slisz collected the ricochet, but fired it over the net.
Miami won the opening game of this series 2-1 at home.
The winner of Game 3 will advance to the conference semifinals against the winning team of the Orlando-Charlotte series. This series is also tied 1-1.
There will be a final match between NYCFC and Cincinnati
Alonso Martinez and Thiago Martins scored first-half goals as New York City FC defeated FC Cincinnati 3-1 in New York to tie the series 1-1.
The honor of this series will therefore be decided on the third next Saturday in Cincinnati during a final match of this first round duel.
Santiago Rodriguez also scored for sixth-seeded New York City, which avenged a 1-0 loss in the opener on Monday.
New York City opened the scoring in the 22nd minute thanks to Martinez. Mitja Ilenic’s back pass into the box found his teammate, leaving the Costa Rican striker with a fairly simple finish past goalkeeper Roman Celentano to make it 1-0. It was Martinez’s 17th goal of the campaign, counting the regular season.
NYCFC doubled their lead in the 40th minute on a set piece. While Rodriguez’s free kick was deflected off the head of Cincinnati’s Miles Robinson towards Martins, who found himself in a good position to make it 2-0.
Luca Orellano put Cincinnati back in the game in the 65th minute. His well-executed shot fooled Matt Freese.
But New York City, which was 10-4-3 at home in the regular season, added a third goal as Rodriguez converted a penalty kick in the seventh minute of added time late in the game.
New York finished with a 14-11 advantage in shots, and both teams had five shots on goal on each side.
Freese finished the night with four saves for New York. Celentano was credited with just one save.
New York was without Tayvon Gray, who was serving a suspension after receiving a red card in the first match.
Minnesota still uses the same recipe
Minnesota United reached the Western Conference semifinals with another victory over Real Salt Lake in a penalty shootout. The final score is 1 (3) – 1 (1) in favor of the team that finished sixth in the Association during the season.
The first clash of this series between the two teams also needed a session and Minnesota also emerged victorious.
Saturday night, Joseph Rosales brought Minnesota fans to their feet with the first goal of the series during regulation time. He gave his team the lead in the 53rd minute.
Emeka Eneli responded for Real Salt Lake in the 75th minute.
During the penalty shootout, Jeong Sang-Bin scored the difference-making net as his team’s fourth shooter.
In the next round, Minnesota will find the Los Angeles Galaxy on its way.
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