If I had to give a title to the game between Inter Miami vs Nashville SC, it would be “A Tale of Two Teams”, and no, the title has nothing to with Nashville SC, it has everything to do with what Inter Miami showed on the field. It’s really hard to point the fingers at anyone from Inter Miami for losing this game, the players played their hearts out under the conditions in which the game was played, arriving in Nashville the same day in which the game was played could have influenced the outcome.
We all know that traveling can make you tired, especially with all the security procedures that airports are taking due to the pandemic. I really don’t want to make excuses for losing the game, but my point is that traveling during the game day is not ideal for any team.
The reason why I would title this game “A Tale of Two Teams” is simple: Inter Miami seems to play one style of football during one half, and a whole different style of football during the second half.
The second half style is the one that all Inter Miami fans love, and the one that we wish Miami would play from the very beginning of the game. Unfortunately, we have to watch how Miami struggles during the first half to control the tempo of the game, it happened against Orlando, now it happened against Nashville.
We continue to give the opposing team all the space they need to control the midfield, to control the tempo of the game, thus making us a counter-attackingteam during the first halves of all the games we’ve played so far. There’s a huge gap between our 3 forwards, the 3 midfielders, and the 4 defenders, it seems as if they play isolated in 3 small groups, they struggle to come together as a team, to play cohesive soccer, to defend and attack together. Pizarro, in many cases, had to drop all the way back to get the ball from his teammates, that was the only way he could come in contact with the ball so that he could try to generate some soccer for Inter Miami.
During the second half, especially after the 5 subs by Diego Alonzo, Inter Miami became a totally different team, an offensive team, controlling the tempo of the match, creating scoring chances, Brek Shea, on the left, became a nightmare with his crosses, Lee Nguyen was the spark in the midfield that Miami needed, no longer would Pizarro drop back for the ball.
Inter Miami pushed all their lines forward, the defense wasn’t sitting all the way in the back anymore, the right and left backs were pushing forward, being aggressive, this is what we wanted to see from the beginning of the game. Diego Alonzo’s subs worked to perfection, the only thing that was missing was the tying goal, unfortunately for us, we were never able to get the equalizer.
If you were to ask me which Inter Miami team I liked the most, the first half or second half Inter Miami, I’d say the second-half team, that’s the team we want to see from the beginning until the end of the match, we need to see Lee Nguyen starting in the midfield, we all know what he’s capable of doing, he did it with New England for many years, we need his energy and vision in the midfield, the team played a whole lot better while he was on the pitch, he gave Pizarro more freedom to roam around the field. Brek Shea should start, he was unstoppable on the left, creating problems for the opposite team, this is what we need, players that can hold the ball and generate football, to fill the gaps in the midfield, those gaps that the opposite teams keep taking advantage of.
Hopefully, we will bring this sort of enthusiasm in our next game vs Atlanta, It will be a very tough game, but I believe that if we play the way we did during the second half vs Nashville, then we can win those 3 points, we, as supporters, just have to stay positive and hope for the best.
