Inter Miami’s balance issue, Maxi Moralez’s brilliance & more from Matchday 18

For the past couple of months, I’ve been writing about how NYCFC have evolved, under Nick Cushing, from a possession-and-field-position team into one that’s largely sacrificed both in order to acquire room to counterattack into.

This is smart in a lot of ways, the most obvious being that it’s easier to create high-quality chances on the counter than in any other phase of play. Only slightly less obvious is that it’s easier to defend if most of the players on your team are keeping the ball in front of them and don’t have to worry all that much about the space behind them.

But what we’ve seen both in MLS and around the world is that that particular game model has a lower ceiling than some others. And the game model that City Football Group clubs have become famous and largely admired for is that possession-and-field-position approach Cushing was forced, at least temporarily, to scrap. So while the Pigeons had gone 7-1-2 (W-L-D) in their previous 10 matchdays coming into this weekend, and while that did not feel fluky (this team is very good no matter their game model), there was always a suspicion that they’d try to evolve back into something more like what they were from 2016 to 2022.

And then Maxi Moralez came back, and within a quarter-hour, the work was done.

The Argie legend popped his ACL last September but, not even nine months later, was fit enough to step onto the field in the 75th minute on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. He was coming into what was, at the time, a tense and fun 1-1 game against a San Jose side that looked much, much better than their current record. And then this happened: