Touchline Talk
Inter Miami earned its fourth consecutive clean sheet with a late 0-1 victory over Toronto FC on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at BMO Field.
Following the match, head coach Phil Neville praised the team’s resilience and grit to continue to earn a result even in the dying embers of a match.
“[Inter Miami is] a team that now is enjoying the fight, is enjoying taking punches, is enjoying the efforts, and is enjoying proving people wrong,” said Neville
After a fourth clean sheet on the bounce, Neville emphasized the importance of earning clean sheets and stated how it can propel teams to win championships.
“Clean sheets win you leagues… If we keep keeping clean sheets we will be chasing down the teams above us and I’m really pleased with that.”
Defender Christian Makoun, who scored Inter Miami’s winning goal and his first goal for the Club, agreed with Neville’s focus on maintaining clean sheets.
“I think everything starts from the team getting to know each other. We understand our style of play well,, we’re playing together, and we’re keeping clean sheets. We have to keep working on that because we know we have the quality up top to attack and create goal scoring opportunities,” said Makoun.
“We know that when games are tough we have to keep defending because the chances and opportunities are going to come up top.”
With Inter Miami placed in a playoff spot following the result, Neville wanted to ensure the players’ only focus was on the match ahead.
“What we have all agreed as a team is that we’re concentrated on us and us only, and the next game… It’s a game-by-game mentality and if we start getting ahead of ourselves and start thinking about the glory at the end of the road we will fail.”
Despite the result, Neville continues to challenge the squad to keep growing and learning from each game.
“I want us to play better, I want us to control the games better, I want us to be less careless in possession, and that’s the challenge that I’ve set the team for Friday against the New York Red Bulls which is going to be another massively important game.
