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SKC falls out of Concacaf Champions Cup at Miami

Messi scores again in Concacaf Champions Cup

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9 months ago

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Messi celebrating | Walfri Rodas

Sporting Kansas City falls to Inter Miami CF 3-1 (4-1 in aggregate) in Concacaf Champions Cup. Miami advances and Sporting KC will now focus on MLS regular season play. Miami stars led the way with a goal from Lionel Messi and a goal and an assist from Luis Suárez.

Manager Peter Vermes was finally able to get a start for his three new attackers at the same time. Dejan Joveljic started at center forward with Shapi Suleymanov on his right and Manu Garcia in midfield.

Both teams were grateful for a significantly warmer evening for the match after playing in sub-zero windchills the week before. The two sides were feeling each other out at the beginning. Miami had the better of the play initially and it was proved out when Suarez drove the ball almost to the end line on the left side of the box. The prolific scorer turned playmaker and chipped the ball diagonally back across the box. No matter how famous Messi is, he still finds ways to appear in the box unmarked. Suarez’s ball deftly found him and before Sporting KC’s defense could close him down, he lasered a ball just inside the post past a diving John Pulskamp in the 19th minute.

After the Messi goal put Miami up 1-0 (2-0 in aggragate), Sporting KC started to get in the groove. Joveljic had a couple opportunities, he was connecting with Garcia, Suleymanov and Thommy. Zorhan Bassong was a presence in the midfield and it was looking like SKC might get their first goal of the season. Time was running out in the half but Kansas City was clearly on the front foot and looked like they were ready to make it a competitive game.

As the half went into stoppage time, Jordi Alba drove the ball to nearly the same spot Suarez assisted from before turning into the box. Alba slid the ball just across the six-yard box. Tadeo Allende slipped behind the center backs and touched it into the goal to make it 2-0.

Miami essentially put the game to rest when they capitalized on a mistouch by SKC defender Jake Davis. The attempted clearance came back towards SKC’s box. Robert Voloder missed an opportunity to clean it up before Suarez pounced. Suarez blocked out Voloder, took control and then bounced a shot past Pulskamp to make it 3-0 (4-0 aggregate) just before haftime.

Sporting KC came out of the half and fought but once Vermes subbed off his three new attackers, it appeared they were throwing in the towel. The incoming subs still attempted to make a game of it and did pull one back when Memo Rodriguez shot deflected into the goal.

Sporting Kansas City 1-3 Inter Miami CF
SCORE
1
2
F
AGG
Sporting Kansas City
0
1
1
1
Inter Miami CF
3
0
3
4

Sporting Kansas City: John Pulskamp; Jake Davis (Andrew Brody 74′), Dany Rosero (Ian James 84′), Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold; Jacob Bartlett, Zorhan Bassong, Manu Garcia (Memo Rodriguez 58′); Shapi Suleymanov (Daniel Salloi 58′), Dejan Joveljic (William Agada 58′), Erik Thommy (C)

Subs Not Used: Ryan Schewe, Logan Ndenbe, Nemanja Radoja, Stephen Afrifa, Mason Toye

Inter Miami CF: Oscar Ustari; Ian Fray, Maximiliano Falcon (Gonzalo Lujan 80′), Tomas Aviles (Noah Allen 57′), Jordi Alba; Federico Redondo, Sergio Busquets (David Ruiz 81′), Telasco Segovia; Lionel Messi (C) (Benjamin Cremaschi 68′), Luis Suarez (Robert Taylor 81′), Tadeo Allende

Subs Not Used: Rocco Rios Novo, Tyler Hall, David Martinez, Ryan Sailor, Julian Gressel, Sanitago Morales, Leo Afonso

Scoring Summary:
MIA — Lionel Messi 2 (Luis Suarez 1) 19′
MIA — Tadeo Allende 1 (Jordi Alba 1) 45+1′
MIA — Luis Suarez 1 (unassisted) 45+3′
SKC — Memo Rodriguez 1 (Jacob Bartlett 1) 63′

Misconduct Summary:
None

Match Statistics
STAT
SKC
MIA
Shots
11
6
Shots on Goal
4
4
Saves
1
2
Fouls
17
12
Offsides
3
1
Corner Kicks
7
5

Referee: Ismael Cornejo
Assistant Referee: Juan Francisco Zumba
Assistant Referee: Geovany Garcia
Fourth Official: Jaime Herrera
VAR: Erick Miranda
AVAR: Guillermo Pacheco

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Sid Much Rock

I’m sure folks will be rough on the team, but I thought they played a good game. I’m not sure I’ve seen SKC have such nice passing and interplay since Gutiérrez first stint. That’s something to look forward to. Goals 2 and 3 were harsh. Both rest on Jake sadly. Let’s get him into the midfield. Thommy needs to be on the pitch (that man is all in), but left wing isn’t quite working. I don’t know the answer. I’m looking forward to this season though.

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KCOutsider

Yeah, this is where I’m at. It was nice to dream of pulling off an Atlanta here, but the reality was always that beating Miami in a 2-leg with a heavily overhauled roster was unlikely. PV’s “10 games” really is a realistic expectation this season. If nothing else, you can argue that this result puts pressure on ownership to keep investing and not think they’ve done enough. And now we can focus solely on the actual season, which will be nice for a change.

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Shawn

I think it is a good thing we are out of this competition. I know our reg season just started but I look at this Tournament as conditioning. Getting into shape. That is it. An extra few games for Preseason.

A few things that I noticed:

  • Thommy needs to cross the ball, pass the ball not just try to “out dribble” the appoints
  • I think this is maybe a bigger issue than we are willing to admit
  • Shapi getting mins was a good thing. I think he is going to decent for us
  • I appreciated that PV did subs at the 70th min.
  • Memo taking a shot and scoring was a good thing. Lucky but good. because sometimes you just need to create your own luck. it seems to me that people are nto just willing to shoot.
  • No one is willing ot make runs except DJ and Agada… I know this is their position but There were so many times that our wingers could of made runs, even if they are not passed to. We are to hesitant to pass ball into space.
  • Why hasnt Mason T or Afrifa gotten any minutes yet? That seems odd to me.
  • Jake has looked rough – Not sure if that is because he is in a different position or what but he seems off so far.
  • It was good to see Andrew Brody got some mins as well. and Ian James.

Again, I am not hoping for much for this season. I do hope we make 9th this year. Im hoping we see a decent match on saturday. Here is to the 2025 season

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