El Inter Miami, still without Lionel Messi due to injury, was eliminated on Tuesday in the Round of 16 of the Leagues Cup against Columbus Crew, who were down 0-2 with half an hour left but came back to win 3-2 with three goals in 13 minutes.
Messi has been carrying an ankle injury since the final of the Copa América on July 14 and is still not training with the team.
Inter Miami will not be able to defend the title of the Leagues Cup that they won in 2023 and now only has to fight for the MLS, where they are the leaders of the Eastern Conference.
Paraguayans Matías Rojas and Diego Gómez scored for Inter Miami, which featured Uruguayan Luis Suárez, who was excellent at holding the ball and providing support to his team, along with Spaniards Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
However, Columbus Crew, the MLS Cup champions last year, led by Colombian Juan Camilo ‘Cucho’ Hernández, came back with a brace from Uruguayan Diego Rossi and a goal from Christian Ramírez to clinch a thrilling and very exciting match.
Great first half from Inter Miami
With a five-man defense and Busquets as the third central defender, Gerardo Martino surprised with a high press from Inter Miami that unsettled Columbus Crew.
The home team accumulated several dangerous turnovers in ball possession and did not take long to pay dearly for it.
Steven Moreira was overconfident and had his pocket picked by Gómez, who left Paraguayan Rojas to head home and put Florida ahead in the 10th minute.
It was very difficult for Wilfried Nancy’s team to get into the match, as they are used to dominating through possession and looked very uncomfortable throughout the first half.
It didn’t help that neither ‘Cucho’ nor Rossi provided any escape routes from the pressure in the offensive department.
Rossi, in an isolated play, had a clear opportunity on the edge of the area in the 43rd minute, but the Uruguayan forward sent the ball into the clouds.
Aside from that scare, Inter Miami, with Martino clearly winning the tactical battle against Nancy, went into halftime ahead after a practically perfect first half from the players in pink.
Furious reaction from Columbus Crew
Columbus Crew had no choice but to seek solutions from the bench, and in the second half, Christian Ramírez, Mohamed Farsi, and Alexandru Matan came on.
Slowly, Columbus Crew began to find some breathing room in attack, but the first chance of the second half fell to Inter Miami at the feet of Rojas, who, after a one-two with Luis Suárez, unleashed a powerful shot as a warning.
In the 55th minute, the first warning from ‘Cucho’ came, with a shot deflected by the rival defense that missed by the narrowest of margins.
As the team in yellow grew, they were then splashed with a cold shower.
Suárez, who gave a master class on interpreting the game from the position of nine, combined beautifully in a counterattack with Gómez, and Inter Miami went ahead 0-2 in the 62nd minute.
Columbus Crew seemed shaken and almost sunk, but their reaction was as magnificent as it was furious.
Ramírez narrowed the gap in the 67th minute with a pure striker’s header, and just two minutes later, Rossi, taking advantage of a cross from ‘Cucho,’ ignited euphoria in Columbus with the equalizing goal.
From an Inter Miami that was completely composed and in control, it quickly shifted to a Columbus Crew showing its teeth and flirting with the epic.
Furthermore, Martino’s team began to show signs of physical exhaustion and the moral blow of having squandered a two-goal lead.
In the end, the hero was Rossi, who sealed the comeback in the 80th minute after a through ball from Farsi.
With the match already devolving into a non-stop back-and-forth, Columbus Crew had a fourth goal in hand, but neither Rossi, Ramírez, nor Jacen Russell-Rowe were precise.
Inter Miami gave it their all until the end, and Suárez and Benjamin Cremaschi came close to equalizing in injury time, but Columbus Crew raised their arms after an enormous comeback. EFE