Miami Miracle: Leo Afonso plays the hero with Messi, Suárez at Copa América
With their brightest stars unavailable, it was two rookie SuperDraft picks who came up clutch for Miami.
With masses of navy blue shirts clustered in the attacking third in injury time as the Union searched desperately to convert their numerical advantage into a late winner, Yannick Bright intercepted a Jack McGlynn pass, then slalomed towards the touchline under pressure and played fellow substitute Leo Afonso forward into acres of space.
The Brazilian-American attacker had ample time to cut past isolated Philly center back Jakob Glesnes and beat Oliver Semmle with a near-post finish for the second MLS goal of his fledgling professional career, sparking euphoric celebrations among those clad in pink.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Afonso, who’s been battling through a troublesome groin injury, said afterward. “I mean, I can’t, it’s hard to put words to it, but it’s amazing. So just being here, I feel so blessed and thankful, so excited to get a goal in an important game, with two men down, on the road.
“It’s difficult when you’re missing the best players in history in their positions. But we got to keep working, and we got to try our best, and that’s what we did tonight.”
If IMCF ultimately outpace FC Cincinnati and the rest of the trailing pack to the Supporters’ Shield, they’ll look back on this result as three outsized points: an occasion on which two of their young contributors showed poor judgment in collecting two yellow cards apiece, but two others stepped up to save the day, something the Herons have often had to rely on Messi and Suárez for.
“I believe that the good of these results for the group is that, to win a game with a match with two fewer players, their learning comes with a win, which they can overcome in a better way,” said Martino of his youngsters.
“Had it been a defeat, they would be more criticized, their self-criticism would have been much greater. In this case, since there was a win, we can be a little bit more calm, in that there are lessons learned from the kind of mistakes that generally make you lose the game.”
