Touchline Talk presented by Al-Flex
Inter Miami CF fell 2-0 to Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, June 19 after going down to 10 men as a result of an early first half red card.
Head Coach Phil Neville felt that, despite the team being dealt a disappointing hand due to the booking, the squad played with tenacity and resolve.
“I thought they coped unbelievably. They worked so hard. They were disciplined, they tried to score goals. There were a couple of chances in the second half where I thought we should have scored. Two poor goals to give away, which is unlike us. What I will say is the boys worked so hard when we went down to 10 men. They stayed in the game, and kept fighting and kept running and kept trying. I can’t fault them for that.”
Inter Miami defender Aimé Mabika also felt that the squad played well as a unit despite the shortage of manpower on the pitch, and looked for positives in the performance.
“For us, in the games we won this year, the biggest thing for us is just that togetherness. So although we went down a man, I think we were together just trying to get something out of this game. We knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. We were right there but playing a man down is very difficult.”
Neville also emphasized to the team that the focus should be on moving forward this season.
“What I’ve said to them at the end is we’re back on the treadmill. We’re back on the grind. We’ve got 19 games left, and 57 points to play for. We’ve got to make sure this week we get back to working hard, get back to the qualities that we have, and that we’re prepared for Minnesota [United FC].”
Inter Miami is back in action at DRV PNK Stadium this Saturday, June 25, hosting Minnesota United FC for the first time ever at 8 p.m. ET. Tickets are available visiting https://www.intermiamicf.com/tickets/single.
