There will be no MLS Cup for Lionel Messi and Inter Miami this year. Atlanta United was responsible for breaking their coronation dreams with a surprising victory that eliminated the most successful player in this sport and the team that spends the most.
The derailment came much sooner than anyone had imagined.
Jamal Thiaré scored twice, a Bartosz Slisz header in the 76th minute was the winning goal, and visiting Atlanta United beat the Herons 3-2 on Saturday to win their first-round playoff series, taking the third and final meeting
“There is no success when one is eliminated here in the quarterfinals” of the conference, acknowledged the Argentine strategist of Inter Miami, Gerardo Martino.
Messi took two free throws in the final minutes, but smashed the ball into the wall of Atlanta defenders, and time finally ran out. The Argentine star’s header—yes, a header—tied the game at 2-2 in the 65th minute, but the hosts never regained the lead and Brad Guzan stopped almost everything that reached Atlanta’s goal to complete the scoring.
It was Atlanta United’s fifth win in do-or-die games this season, starting with two must-win games to keep hope alive at the end of the regular season against the New York Red Bulls and Orlando City.
Then came a wild card game in Montreal, the second game of the series against Miami—at home—and then Saturday’s surprise.
“There’s fairy dust in our locker room,” joked Guzan, who made several spectacular saves. “I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates.”
And the Eastern and MLS title suddenly looks available to anyone.
Atlanta United, seeded ninth, will play Orlando City (4th) in the Eastern Conference semifinal, while New York City FC (6th) will face the Red Bulls (7th) in the other Eastern semifinal.
Columbus (2nd) had already been eliminated. Cincinnati (3rd), was eliminated on Saturday. And then came the biggest surprise of all: No. 1 Inter Miami’s season is over.
The teams with the best regular season record won the MLS Cup four times in the league’s first seven seasons. In the 22 seasons since then, the regular season leader has won the title just four more times.
And on paper, perhaps there has never been a bigger surprise than this: a ninth seed that defeats the first. And not only that, he has thrown out the first player with Messi in his lineup.
Messi’s total compensation of 20,446,667 with Inter Miami this season exceeded that of Atlanta’s entire payroll by about 5 million, and the Florida team spent a record 41.7 million on payroll this season.
That earned Inter Miami the Supporters’ Shield, a trophy awarded to the club with the most points in the regular season. And the Herons scored more points than any other team in the history of this league.
They thus obtained an invitation to next year’s Club World Cup, which was not a surprise. But they did not even reach the second round of the playoffs, which will be remembered as a resounding failure.
“He has had good things, he has had bad things,” said “Tata” Martino when evaluating his management in the last couple of campaigns. “If you think about where we were in November of last year (when they didn’t advance to the postseason), obviously there is progress as far as the club is concerned, not just the team. If you think about the expectations we had for this playoff, we have obviously fallen too short.”
And Atlanta really believed they were going to pull this off.
For some reason, Atlanta was a nightmare for Inter Miami this season. He beat him three times, all of them with Messi in the lineup. All other MLS teams combined had three wins over Inter Miami.
“It’s a joint effort from everyone,” said Rob Valentino, United’s interim coach. “We talked about it before the game and all year, that it wasn’t going to be a single player’s accomplishment, but a collective effort, and that’s what happened tonight.”
A flurry of three goals in five first-half minutes set the tone. Inter Miami opened the scoring and Atlanta United responded immediately, twice.
Thiaré hit a post in the 14th. And Inter Miami took a 1-0 lead about two minutes later.
Messi saw his attempt blocked by a dive from Guzan, but Paraguayan Diego Gómez was there to take advantage of the rebound, pumping the ball into the nets almost without an angle and near the right post.
The advantage did not last long. Thiaré took care of that.
He received a pass, completely unmarked, and fired into the top right corner to beat goalkeeper Drake Callender, who had no chance. Thus, the game was tied at 19 minutes.
And less than two minutes later, Alexey Miranchuk passed a ball to Thiaré, who beat Callender to give United a 2-1 lead.
Just like that, the best team in MLS regular season history, and one of the best players in the history of the sport, were in deep trouble. Inter Miami thought they had tied the game in the 25th, only for Gomez to be ruled offside.
And the hosts argued heatedly over a penalty later in that half, arguing there was a handball in the area (the replay suggested they were right). They went into halftime losing 2-1.
Messi tied it, a last shout of joy in the season. But it all collapsed about half an hour later, leaving the locals in disbelief, stunned and eliminated.
Torres forces penalties and Orlando City eliminates Charlotte
Uruguayan Facundo Torres scored 12 minutes into stoppage time in the second half to tie the score at 1-1 and contributed a penalty in the shootout, giving Orlando City a 4-1 win over Chalotte on Saturday and resolving the three-game series. duels in the MLS playoffs.
Neither club scored until Karol Swiderski scored in the 81st minute to give fifth-seeded Charlotte the lead. It was Swiderski’s first goal of the postseason.
Torres tied it for fourth-seeded Orlando when he scored on a counterattack after a penalty that Kristijan Kahlina had saved.
Peruvian goalkeeper Pedro Gallese saved the shots of Pep Giel and Karol Swiderski to start the shootout.
NYCFC also wins on penalties
Matt Freese made three saves in the shootout and Mitja Ilenic scored the winning goal for New York City FC, 6-5 over Cincinnati, to settle the first-round playoff series.
The definition from 11 steps became necessary after the teams tied 0-0 in regulation time.
NYCFC, seeded sixth in the Eastern Conference, eliminated Cincinnati, which was third. They will host the Red Bulls, their backyard rivals and seventh seeds, in an Eastern Conference semifinal.
Freese saved penalties from Pavel Bucha, Gerardo Valenzuela and Teenage Hadebe.
Román Celentano saved shots from NYCFC captain Thiago Martins and Kevin O’Toole, but was unable to do the same with Ilenic’s shot.
Cincinnati beat NYCFC 1-0 in the first meeting before losing 3-1 in the second leg.
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