Behind a two-goal performance from Messi, Inter Miami CF (20-4-8) defeated the Columbus Crew (16-6-9) 3-2 Wednesday night at Lower.com Field.
Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy put it as simply as he could.
“Messi is Messi,” Nancy said.
The early stages of play provided plenty of drama.
Seven minutes in, Crew forward Cucho Hernández put the ball into the top right corner of the net past Miami goalie Drake Callender. Fortunately for Miami, the referee had the offside flag raised during the goal, waving off the point.
In the 25th minute, Miami was on the receiving end of an offside penalty, wiping away a goal for midfielder Marcelo Weigandt.
The first official shot came 34 minutes into the game from Crew attacker Diego Rossi, who missed a strike that sailed just outside of the goalpost.
With the first 45 minutes coming to a close, it seemed like a scoreless half was coming
Then Messi took over.
In the 45th minute, the Argentinian striker rolled a left-footed shot past Crew goalie Patrick Schulte into the bottom left corner of the net, putting Miami up 1-0.
Five minutes of extra time was added to the half, which was just enough for Messi to continue doing damage to the Crew.
Messi blasted a free kick from outside the box, past the Crew wall of defense and Schulte, extending the Miami lead to two.
Nancy was not phased by the early deficit, as he knew his team could find ways to score against Miami.
“The idea was to tell them to keep the intensity…we knew we could score goals,” Nancy said. “Also, localize the moment to address them more and this is what they did.”
Rossi wasted no time getting the Crew back into the game.
Twenty seconds into the second half, Rossi scored from the center of the box to the middle-left of the goal, with an assist from defender Mohammed Farsi.
The crowd was rejuvenated with the goal, providing a momentum shift for the Crew.
However, all that momentum came to a crashing down one minute later when Schulte came out of the penalty box to grab a long ball kicked down the field by Miami. Columbus defender Rudy Camacho also went for the ball, causing a collision between the two.
The ball bounced past both Crew players, freeing up Miami attacker Luis Suarez to head the ball in, regaining a two-score lead.
Nancy said he felt a rollercoaster of emotions down the stretch of the second half.
“It was amazing to see the first goal like this,” Nancy said. “It hurts a lot when we concede the goal right after that.”
A foul by Miami defender Noah Allen set up Hernández with a penalty kick in the 60th minute.
Hernández successfully scored the penalty shot, cutting the deficit back to one. The goal was Hernández’s 17th of the year.
Unfortunately for the Crew, mistakes halted their momentum once again.
Three minutes after the goal, Camacho was awarded his second yellow card, resulting in a red card that would eject him from the game, meaning Columbus would have to complete the comeback down a man.
With time dwindling down, a review took place confirming a handball violation on Miami, setting up Hernández with a penalty shot to tie the game.
Hernández, having already put one penalty kick past Callender, shot to the same area of the net. However, this time Callender guessed correctly, making a diving deflection to hold the one-goal lead for Miami.
Crew captain midfielder Darlington Nagbe expressed a positive mindset following Columbus’ second tough loss at home in a row.
“These are good problems to have,” Nagbe said. “You want to be playing in big games, whether you win or lose, it’s an opportunity to grow and learn from.”
The Crew continues regular-season play Saturday at 7:30 p.m., hosting the Philadelphia Union at Lower.com Field.
