Riquelme Fillipi scored a brilliant 90th-minute equaliser to salvage a point for Inter Miami in a 2-2 draw with FC Cincinnati that damages the Floridians’ hopes of securing second spot in the Eastern Conference.
Fillip’s first MLS goal helped Miami avoid just their seventh league defeat of the season but they still slipped to third after the New England Revolution beat the New York Red Bulls 3-2.
Miami visit New England on Sunday.
Luis Suárez gave Miami the lead just after the hour mark with a trademark curling strike but Miami then sat back, allowing the visitors to get a grip on the game and goals from Kenji Mboma Dem and Samuel Gidi swung the match in their favour.
Filippi levelled but Miami still needed a brave block from defender Ian Fray to deny Evander in stoppage time.
“What I know is that we made mistakes again, I think, in part, due to a great deal of anxiety, especially in the second half,” Miami boss Kily González said. “In my view, we were far too passive in the first half, which is something we tried to address at halftime. I’ll say it again: our fate is in our own hands – we need to win a match – but we have to improve significantly.
“We need to better analyse and interpret the game and understand how it should be played. We need to be more aggressive, and in the first half, we simply weren’t.”
Messi on the periphery but collects yellow card
Lionel Messi returned to the starting line-up but had a quiet night, bar picking up a yellow card for a clash with Cincinnati defender Samuel Gidi.
His struggles were indicative of a strangely ineffective performance from Miami.
“The match demanded a lot of individual duels, one-on-one situations, and play out on the flanks,” González added. “We needed to be clinical, but we lacked the sharpness to execute what we had prepared during the week. So, yes, we’re very frustrated, but we have to keep going.”
Cincinnati stay in eighth place in the East and very much in play-off contention.
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