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Lionel Messi set up a Rodrigo De Paul goal and German Berterame snapped his scoring drought as Inter Miami booked their place in the MLS playoffs with a 2-0 win over New York City FC on Wednesday.
Victory gave Cristian ‘Kily’ Gonzalez his first back-to-back wins since taking over as head coach last month, guaranteeing second-placed Miami at least a place in the wild card round, with five games left to play.
“I’m leaving happy. Obviously, there’s a lot to improve, but we’re making progress little by little,” Gonzalez said.
Messi — who had scored twice on Saturday after returning to his club side from last week’s emotional Argentina send-off — was again a dangerous presence, playing a hand in both first-half goals.
In the 20th minute Messi trapped the ball just outside the penalty area and passed it to De Paul, who found Suarez on the byline with a diagonal looping ball.
Suarez rolled it flat across the face of the goal, giving Berterame a simple finish for his first goal since May.
De Paul grabbed Miami’s second on a quick counter with the final kick of the first half. Berterame brought the ball across the halfway line and was slightly fortunate to find Messi to his right with a mishit pass.
Messi drew in three defenders then laid it off with the outside of his left foot to De Paul, who slammed it high to the keeper’s right.
In a goalless second half, Messi sent a curling effort from just outside the box over the bar.
As the game clock hit 90, Messi played a short corner to De Paul, who unleashed a shot from outside the box toward the far top corner. United States national team goalkeeper Matt Freese made a superb diving save, tipping the ball onto the post.
New York City, on a dire streak of just one win in their last 11 MLS games, at least had a chance for a consolation deep in stoppage time with a penalty.
Ian Fray brought down fellow substitute Talles Magno, who turned sharply away from goal and ran into the defender’s trailing leg.
But Dayne St. Clair made a brilliant save, flinging himself low and right to palm the ball around the bar.
It was Inter Miami’s second straight clean sheet, after none in their previous 10.
“I really liked how we handled dropping back into defensive shape. We didn’t get caught out on the counter and were very aggressive, breaking up plays whenever a sudden transition from them looked likely,” said Gonzalez.
“Perhaps our ball circulation was a bit too slow at times, but that’s just how the game played out.”
Even with first-place Nashville out of sight this year in the Eastern Conference, the win consolidated Miami’s grip on second, and home-field advantage into the playoffs.