This Match recap is presented by Powerful Foods
Inter Miami CF fell 1-4 to the New York Red Bulls. The match at Inter Miami CF Stadium, which saw Juan Agudelo reach a career milestone, kicked off at 8 p.m. ET.
“I think we made a lot of mistakes that let our opponents take the upper hand and we weren’t able to understand how we had to play,” said manager Diego Alonso. “It went poorly when we didn’t do what we had to do. When we did what we had to, it was easy to break their press. The thing is we didn’t do it all the time and when we stopped doing it we suffered and committed errors.”
The visitors opened the scoring in the 14th minute through a penalty for a foul in the box. Red Bulls defender Mandela Egbo stepped up from the spot and converted the penalty to give the visitors a 0-1 lead.
Inter Miami nearly struck back in the 23rd minute; Lewis Morgan stepped up for a free kick and delivered a right-footed pass into the center of the box. His right-footed delivery found Leandro González Pirez, who headed a shot just wide of the far post. Morgan again threatened with a set piece delivery in the 30th minute, this time lining up from the left wing and hitting a pass with his left foot. The pass found Dylan Nealis at the near post, who lofted a header back across goal and just off target.
The hosts broke through in the 39th minute to find an equalizing goal. Morgan again initiated a threatening move, finding Matías Pellegrini in a dangerous area, who then clipped a pass over the top to Agudelo. The former Red Bulls forward collected the pass and struck a shot into the ground and over the keeper to make it 1-1 entering halftime. The goal was the 50th of Agudelo’s MLS career including postseason, and his second in consecutive games. It was Pellegrini’s third assist and Morgan’s fourth assist.
The Red Bulls opened the scoring in the second period, reclaiming the lead in the 49th minute when Brian White collected a pass from Omir Fernandez in the box and scored to make it 1-2.
Inter Miami made two substitutions in the 57th minute, bringing on Robbie Robinson and Rodolfo Pizarro for Pellegrini and Victor Ulloa respectively.
Pizarro was involved in two big chances beginning in the 66th minute; first he played a quick give-and-go with Robinson, dribbled between two defenders and shot from the top of the box, but his shot was saved. Two minutes later, Morgan cut in from the right wing and played a pass to Jay Chapman in the box, who came on for Dylan Nealis in the 65th minute. Chapman quickly tapped it forward to Pizarro who took a low shot from the left side of the goal that was saved by the keeper’s feet.
The Red Bulls, however, expanded on their lead throughout the remainder of the half. First, a save by Robles was deflected to Benjamin Mines who struck from in front of goal to make it 1-3. In the first minute of second-half added time, Cristian Cásseres Jr. slid a pass out to Daniel Royer on the left side of the box who curled a low shot into the back of the net to make it 1-4.
Inter Miami will return to action Sunday, Sept. 27, when it travels to face the Philadelphia Union at 7:30 p.m. ET at Subaru Park.
