Inter Miami desperate to snap seven-game losing streak on Saturday at home vs Austin FC
Newly hired Inter Miami coach Tata Martino is awaiting his work visa and not expected to be on the sideline for the home game against Austin FC on Saturday, but his eyes will be on his new team as it tries to snap a seven-game losing streak and dig out of last place in the standings.
Inter Miami lost its last game 4-1 at Philadelphia and has been outscored 16-5 during the past seven games. The team, under the direction of interim coach Javi Morales, has been playing with a depleted roster due to injuries to key players and the absences of defenders DeAndre Yedlin, Kamal Miller and Sergiy Kryvtsov.
Yedlin (USA) and Miller (Canada) are on national team duty for the Gold Cup. Kryvtsov was in Ukraine with his national team for a pair of European Championship qualifying matches and his return was delayed by visa issues. He is expected to be back in time for the game.
Starting left back Franco Negri tore his left ACL in the game against Philadelphia and will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery.
Martino acknowledged during his introductory news conference Thursday that it will take time to turn the team around, even with the mid-to-late July addition of Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and potentially a few others. “The people always want immediate results. The circumstances are what they are. We will need some time.”
Sporting director Chris Henderson, asked about the outlook for the team the rest of the season, added: “We’ve been unfortunate with some some big injuries this year. But the good part is those players are getting healthy and not that far from coming back to helping our team. And it will be great to get players back from Gold Cup so they will be able to contribute.”
Despite Miami’s struggles, Austin coach Josh Wolff expects a tough game at DRV PNK Stadium.
“They know they’re getting two big-time players soon and will want to make a playoff push, but we have to try and squash their spirits,” Wolff told the Austin American-Statesman. “We don’t go on the road planning for draws. We want to go on the road and win.”
Austin is in ninth place in the Western Conference standings with a 7-8-4 record and 25 points. The team is coming off back-to-back 3-0 victories against in-state rivals Dallas and Houston.
Miami is in last place in the East at 5-13-0 with 15 points. Miami’s last win was May 13 against New England.
“We are trying not to get demoralized, but we are in a very tough stretch and now we have a chance to get out of it with a game at home in front of our fans,” said Inter Miami midfielder Nico Stefanelli. “It is hard to get out of the bottom of the table, but we all have to raise our level because what we’ve been doing is not enough.”
One storyline to keep an eye on: Two of the top-10 all-time goal scorers in MLS history, Josef Martínez of Inter Miami and Gyasi Zardes of Austin FC are sitting on 102 goals and are two shy of tying Dwayne De Rosario for the ninth-most goals in league history. Martínez has never scored against Austin and could become the first player to score against 27 different MLS clubs.
