All the pressure on Inter Miami in U.S. Open Cup match vs. Miami FC Wednesday night
For the second year in a row, Inter Miami will head down from its Fort Lauderdale home base to face neighboring lower-division rival Miami FC at FIU Stadium in the third round of the U.S. Open Cup.
Although the single-elimination tournament has no bearing on Inter Miami’s MLS standings, coach Phil Neville and his team are under immense pressure to win after losing their sixth game in a row Saturday and dropping to 14th place in the Eastern Conference.
Fans are getting restless, and criticism of Neville and the club is mounting on social media.
Miami FC coach Anthony Pulis, a former Inter Miami assistant coach under Neville, expects his opponent to come in fired up and with all its big guns.
“I certainly don’t think he’ll be coming in with his second-string lineup and expecting to beat us with anything less than his best 11,” Pulis said.
Neville rested six starters last year and brought five of them back late in the game. Inter Miami eventually won 1-0 on an 83rd minute goal by Leo Campana in front of a Miami FC record crowd of 11,154.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be as good a game as it was last year,” said Pulis. “I actually felt on that night we were probably the better team; and this year Phil will probably come with a stronger lineup, if I’m being honest. I’m not saying they took us lightly, but they rotated and made some changes and because of how well we did against them and with the situation they’re in right now, we’re expecting his strongest lineup.”
Neville said he will use “the strongest lineup we can”. The game is on artificial turf, which could affect the playing time of Campana, just recovered from a calf injury, and Josef Martinez, who has a history of knee injuries and tore his ACL in 2020. Neville said Campana wants to play every minute.
“This game is very important for this football club,” Neville said. “We’re going to have to be at our best. It’s David vs. Goliath. They’ve got nothing to lose...If our attitude and concentration aren’t right, you get embarrassed, and we don’t want to be embarrassed. I’m a big fan of Anthony’s, he knows a lot about us, it’s on a difficult surface and it’s that cup feeling, so there’s a bit more of an edge, a nervousness, a win at all costs mentality.”
Neville and his players were in good spirits at training Tuesday, despite the slump.
“We’re fresh and hungry,” Neville said. “We’re a team on bad run that has a feeling of a team that feels confident. We need to keep believing in ourselves and thinking this will turn and it does. Football works in mysterious ways.”
Pulis feels Inter Miami’s record (2-6-0) does not reflect its quality.
“I’ve watched the past few games, analyzed what they’re trying to do and they’re certainly better than what the results have shown,” he said. “The roster now has some top, top players. There aren’t many areas that you’d say they’re weak.”
He pointed to the recent trade for Canadian national team center back Kamal Miller, a natural left-footer, and the signing of Dixon Arroyo to replace injured captain Gregore. And, he said, the team has plenty of offensive options with Campana, Martinez, Shanyder Borgelin, Rodolfo Pizarro, Jean Mota, Robert Taylor and Nico Stefanelli.
“You never quite know what Phil is going to do, he does like to change things every now and again, so we are making sure we are ready to adapt to potentially a formation change,” Pulis said. “But these are the games as a coach you don’t have to do much motivating. Our players will be at home against local rivals, a higher-level opponent. Some of our players have ambitions to play at a high level some day and this is an opportunity to showcase their talents.
“We can play with some freedom. I don’t think there’s any pressure on us.”
Miami FC (1-2-4) plays in the USL Championship, the second-tier league below MLS. The team is coming off its first win of the season, a 4-1 home victory over Las Vegas Lights on Sunday. The roster is thin, as a half-dozen players are injured. Pulis expects to have 14 players available.
Among the injured Miami FC players are Kyle Murphy, Callum Chapman-Page, Ben Mines, and Joaquin Rivas. Curtis Thorn is out serving a red card suspension.
Advanced tickets are $20, day of game tickets are $30, and parking is free. Tickets can be purchased online at www.MiamiFC.com or by calling 844-MIAMIFC.
Note: Inter Miami on Tuesday announced that it traded center back Aime Mabika to Toronto FC for $100,000 in general allocation money for 2024. “It was a real emotional day, but it was a sensible decision,” Neville said. “We got really good money. Aime wants to play. He was frustrated. We’ve got Serhiy (Kyrvstov), Kamal (Miller) and Ian Fray is coming back. That was a no-brainer.”
