Inter Miami have suffered their most embarrassing loss in a very long time. With Lionel Messi at the 2024 Copa America, the Herons missed the Argentine star badly when they played FC Cincinnati on the road on Saturday night.
In a forgettable night for Gerardo Martino’s side, Miami conceded six in a humiliating 6-1 defeat to the hosts. To make things worse, Cincinnati leapfrogged Inter Miami in the 2024 MLS standings.
Thanks to this commanding victory, Pat Noonan’s boys are now leading the Eastern Conference table with 48 points, one more than Martino’s men. On top of that, Cincinnati have a game in hand.
Inter Miami, who apart from Messi also missed Luis Suarez — who didn’t start for Uruguay against Brazil but still celebrated his nation’s qualification for the Copa America semis — got down to 10 men with Sergio Busquets seeing the red card after 62′, but they were already losing 5-1 by then.
Lionel Messi #10 of Inter Miami looks on against Atlanta United during the first half of the game at Chase Stadium on May 29, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Gerardo Martino’s reaction to Inter Miami’s embarrassing loss
Speaking to the media postgame, Martino admitted his side was never in control of the game, as the hosts were completely dominant from start to finish and were fair winners of the match.
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“The opponent outplayed us, and we have to take note of that,” Martino said. “Cincinnati is one of the top three teams in the league; we are not yet in that position despite having good results and performances. We need to keep working, and as we always say, we aim to have the full squad ready for the final stretch of the league.”
How Inter Miami have fared with Messi at the Copa America?
Even though Messi’s presence on the field changes everything, Inter Miami haven’t struggled so much with him at the 2024 Copa America until this terrible defeat.
Before they conceded six to Cincinnati, the Herons had claimed four wins out of four games since Messi left to represent Argentina in June. Following a late win in Philadelphia, Miami picked up consecutive 2-1 wins against Columbus Crew, Nashville, and Charlotte. Still, it only took one big loss to drop in the standings.
