Inter Miami CF lost 1-2 against Nashville SC this Saturday, November 1st, in the second game of the best-of-three round in the MLS playoffs.
Sam Surridge opened the scoring in the 9th minute from the penalty spot. Josh Bauer made it 2-0 before the end of the first half. Lionel Messi gave life to his team in the 90th minute.
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At the end of the match, Javier Mascherano appeared before the press and explained his feelings after this defeat. The Argentine was self-critical.
“A Leo (Messi) we did not find him in good situations in the first half, we have not been sharp in the final third, and there is also merit from the opponent,” Mascherano said. “I believe that in the second half, beyond the fact that they fell back, we found some situations.”
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“We have had situations, the match was very even. In fact, the penalty play comes from when we are pressing. After the 1-0, we had situations to be able to tie the match, but we were not sharp in front of the goal,” he added.
Although the Herons lost this match, they have not yet been eliminated from the MLS playoffs, and they still have a chance to advance to the conference semifinals.
The stage they are contesting right now is the conference quarter-finals, where the best-of-three matches qualify. The first match was won by Inter Miami 3-1, with a brace from Messi. And the second one, they lost 1-2.
This means everything will be decided in a third match, since goals are not added up, but the team that wins the most matches out of three possible matches qualifies.
The third and final match of this round will be played next Saturday, November 8th, at Chase Stadium.
There, everything starts over, and previous results do not matter. The team that qualifies for the Eastern Conference semifinals will be the one that wins said match.