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Inter Miami suffers worst loss of season, 4-1 to Red Bulls, as Higuain watches

Inter Miami played its first home game in front of a live audience on Wednesday night as about 60 players’ family members were in the stands – the first fans allowed in the Fort Lauderdale stadium since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They left disappointed as Miami suffered its worst loss of the season -- 4-1 to the New York Red Bulls.

Also watching from a stadium seat, in street clothes, was Argentine forward Gonzalo Higuain, who last week became the highest-paid player in MLS when he left Juventus to sign with Inter Miami for $7 million per year.

Higuain completed his MLS-imposed quarantine period and began full training with his teammates on Tuesday. He is awaiting his visa and international transfer certificate. If he gets them by the end of the week, he would be eligible to make his debut Sunday on the road against the Philadelphia Union.

Painted on the sidewalk outside the stadium was an image of Higuain with the words: “Your No. 9 is Here”.

His new teammates could use his trademark clinical finishing.

Inter Miami got off to sloppy starts in both halves, had several defensive breakdowns and paid the price. And, once again, the team failed to finish several clear scoring opportunities.

Inter Miami captain and goalkeeper Luis Robles, who played at Red Bulls for eight years, minced no words after the loss.

“We didn’t start the game right. We didn’t respect our opponent,” Robles said. “Anytime you come onto the field thinking it’s going to be a kickaround and we’re going to go through the motions and we’re such a good team that we can just play teams off the park, that’s the wrong mentality to have. We were reacting, reacting, reacting instead of being the aggressor.”

He said Inter Miami should have been ready for the Red Bulls’ pressing style, and instead, they got burned by it.

“From the beginning, they started pressing us, and there were no surprises. I played there eight years, they don’t change. We weren’t ready for it. To come out as flat as we were and as reactive as we were was disappointing. When you do that, it’s no surprise you end up losing the game.”

Coach Diego Alonso called it “our worst game of the season” and added: “They were better than us and we gave them the chance to take the lead twice, making them stronger. We didn’t understand how we had to play them.”

Asked why they had so much trouble with New York’s high press, Alonso said: “We struggled when we didn’t do what we were supposed to do, that’s when we suffered. I don’t have any complaint about the players’ attitudes. I didn’t like the game. We only did a few things well. But they worked hard and maybe for a moment we failed to believe and stay connected.”

Mexican playmaker Rodolfo Pizarro was left off the starting roster due to a sore hamstring, and Miami’s offense looked out of sync from the opening whistle. The Red Bulls dominated early, Mathias Jorgensen fired a shot off the post in the ninth minute, and then Blaise Matuidi committed an uncharacteristic careless penalty in the box.

New York’s Mandela Egbo converted the penalty kick to put the Red Bulls ahead 1-0 in the 14th minute.

Miami finally settled down, and Juan Agudelo scored the equalizer in the 39th minute after Matias Pellegrini took a pass from Lewis Morgan and flipped it to Agudelo just in front of the goal. It was Agudelo’s 50th MLS goal.

The teams remained tied 1-1 at halftime.

Inter Miami struggled at the start of the second half, and the Red Bulls took advantage. Ben Sweat turned the ball over against New York’s high press, Matuidi tried in vain to get it, and Brian White slipped it in to give the Red Bulls a 2-1 lead in the 49th minute.

Pizarro and Robbie Robinson entered the game in the 57th minute, replacing Victor Ulloa and Pellegrini. They energized the offense right away. But Brek Shea fired a shot over the crossbar, Robinson had a great chance but failed to pull the trigger in time, and a Morgan angled shot sailed wide left.

Miami’s defense got caught sleeping again, and Ben Mines scored in the 85th minute to put New York up 3-1. And the Red Bulls were not done. Daniel Royer made it 4-1 with a nice finish to the back post in the closing minute.

The loss dropped Miami (3-8-2) back to last place in the Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining in the regular season. The team entered the game with high hopes after just one loss in its previous five games. And all seven losses had been by a single goal.

“Our goal is to string two wins in a row to catapult us in the standings and give us confidence,” Robles said before the game. Robles, 36, spent eight years with the Red Bulls, was a fan favorite, won 2015 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and started an MLS-record 183 consecutive games from 2012 through 2018.

It was not the result Robles or his Miami teammates expected.

The Red Bulls, meanwhile, had gone 1-4-1 over their previous six games and were looking to turn things around. New York’s offense has sputtered, as one of just three MLS clubs with single-digit goal totals this season. They made up for it against Miami.

Starting Miami center back Andres Reyes was suspended from the game due to yellow card accumulation, so Dylan Nealis started in his place.