Columbus Crew allows late goal, settles for 2-2 draw at Inter Miami

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023 Admin

The stands at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale won’t have vacancies for long. The pending acquisition of global superstar Lionel Messi will ensure that, whenever the deal is finalized and the Argentine arrives in Florida.

Tuesday night, though, Messi wasn’t there. Neither were other expected additions for Inter Miami CF, a team mired at the bottom of the Eastern Conference at Major League Soccer. Instead, the league’s most dangerous offensive attack in the form of the Columbus Crew was on the field and leading 2-1 as five minutes of stoppage time was being announced.

Then Miami’s Josef Martinez leveled things in the 90th minute with a magnificent, right-footed side bicycle kick from near the penalty circle. It moved him into ninth place in MLS history with 104 career goals and simultaneously doomed the Crew to a 2-2 draw on a night of missed chances for the visitors.

“Yes, we conceded two goals, but this is about we had many chances to score,” coach Wilfried Nancy said. “Usually we are pretty good on that. When we have a chance to be in front in term of a result, we have to keep it.”

What should have been a bigger halftime lead for the Crew was instead just a 1-0 advantage for the visitors, and Miami would make them pay within the first 15 minutes of the second half. Interim coach Javier Morales swapped leading scorer Josef Martinez for Leonardo Campana up top in the Miami attack after Martinez had started the last five games.

Campana, who had both goals in Miami’s 2-1 win against the Crew on April 29, rewarded the coach in the 57th minute off a corner kick from Robert Taylor. The forward cut through the Crew defense, unmarked, and powerfully headed Taylor’s service past Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to tie the game. It was Campana’s fourth goal of the season, all but one of which have come against the Crew, and it reflected a more dynamic attack than Miami had shown during the first half.

But after weathering that pressure and nearly tying the game on a Lucas Zelarayan shot from the left corner of the box that just trickled wide of the right post, the Crew reclaimed the lead a moment later when Cucho Hernandez worked the ball into the right corner of the area and sent a pass to the far post and waiting teammate Christian Ramirez. Charging toward the goal, Ramirez’s sliding, right-footed effort beat Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender to make it 2-1 in the 69th minute.

The goal was Ramirez’s eighth of the season, tying him with Zelarayan for the team lead, and his fifth in the last six games. It stood to be the winner until Martinez’s equalizer, but the Crew remains unbeaten in seven straight games while going 5-0-2 in that stretch. Miami earned a tie for a second consecutive game but remains winless since a 2-1 win against New England on May 13.

“The corner and the second goal, yeah, we can do better on that one but it’s more about scoring on the ones we have,” Nancy said. “They had chances, but not a lot of chances.”

Said Ramirez, “It is a bit of a disappointment because our standards are so high for each other and this team. It’s funny to sit here and say we got a draw in a tough place to play against a team with nothing to lose and we’re still disappointed. It shows great growth in what we’re trying to do and the standards that we have for each other.”

The Crew spent much of the first 20 minutes probing the left side of Miami’s defense, but midfielder Ben Cremaschi was equal to the Crew’s Max Arfsten. But when Cremaschi’s sliding tackle in the 23rd minute dispossessed the forward making his second career start, it set up the second corner of the evening for the visitors and sent Zelarayan to the flag. His in-swinging service was punched away from the goal by Callender, but not out of harm’s way.

With seemingly each player sucked in toward the mouth of the goal, Crew midfielder Darlington Nagbe was left alone just outside of the area and just right of the middle of the field. There, Nagbe waited, tracked the ball as it fell back to earth and unleashed a right-footed blast that buried itself in the left side of the net for his second goal of the year.

It was also only the second Crew goal scored from outside of the area this season.

Nagbe’s effort gave the Crew the 1-0 lead, and while they would keep coming the final touch came up lacking. Alex Matan and Cucho Hernandez both saw their attempts sail wide after getting clean looks at Callender, but defender Mo Farsi had two chances in the 36th minute that he couldn’t finish. Zelarayan sent a lengthy diagonal pass to Farsi, who timed his run perfectly to get behind the Miami defense, on the right flank. The Crew defender received the pass inside the area, but his first touch was too heavy and allowed Callender to come out and make a play on the ball.

Still, though, the ball trickled past the goalkeeper, and Farsi had a second shot at it but was unable to muster any power on the attempt. It was cleared from the line by Miami midfielder Ryan Sailor, who from the seat of his pants two-footed the ball away from the goal as Farsi stared at the heavens in disbelief.

Ramirez said some of the team’s issues were exacerbated by the conditions. The game-time temperature was announced as 86 degrees.

“A few times it was the final ball,” Ramirez said. “Sometimes in this scenario where we’re not fully used to the conditions, how hot it was tonight, how humid, sometimes those decisions are based off of being more fatigued than normal. I think if we managed to get that second goal late in that first half … it completely changes the tide of the game.”

Nancy made two lineup changes from Saturday night’s 2-1 win against the New York Red Bulls. In addition to Arfsten entering the starting lineup, Milos Degenek made his first start since April 29 in place of center back Steven Moreira.

[email protected]

@AdamJardy