He Inter Miami, still without Lionel Messi due to injury, the Argentine star did not miss his debut in the Leagues Cup and took the first step in the defense of his title by beating this one Puebla by 0-2 with goals from Paraguayan Matías Rojas and Uruguayan Luis Suárez.
It was a calm match for those of Gerardo Martinowho did not encounter much opposition from Los Camoteros: the Mexicans greatly respected a champion who was able to dominate from start to finish with important rotations in the eleven.
The local defense had many modifications, with the debut of the newcomer, the Paraguayan David Martínezwho played as a centre-back alongside Sergio Busquets, who once again played that position.
Drake Callender’s backup goalkeeper, Carlos dos Santos, also started.
Messi was present at Chase Stadium one more day, still showing his orthopedic boot despite Martino saying the swelling in his ankle was improving.
Puebla presented many new additions to the starting eleven, with several players who had not enjoyed minutes in the local tournamentand it was noticeable in the performance of José Manuel de la Torre’s men.
The ball was always Miami’s, although in the first few minutes there were warnings from both teams in both areas. Inter, with a goal disallowed by Marcelo Weigandt for a slight offside, and Puebla with the Colombian Kevin Velasco crossing the ball too much.
At minute 9 the warnings ended. A ball filtered into space from the feet of the Finn Robert Taylor was taken advantage of by Rojas with almost no angle, defining with quality but above all a lot of power. An unstoppable ball for Miguel Jiménez.
It is the Paraguayan’s fifth goal with the Inter Miami jersey, the second since returning from his participation in the Copa América, after having also scored last Saturday against Chicago.
Rojas had another chance, with Jiménez making a good save this time. The home side did not give up trying to get a second and Julian Gressel had that chance too, hitting the woodwork in the 16th minute.
Two fouls by Argentine Federico Redondo created two dangerous chances from set pieces for the Mexican team.
Raúl Castillo was the first to score from a set piece. It was the 35th minute and he tried from far away with a powerful shot that narrowly missed the crossbar.
He would have a second chance, this time from closer, but with much less precision, hitting the barrier.
The Mexican attacks into Inter’s area did not mean that Miami stopped attacking and they found the advantage that Taylor had in the one-on-one against the right-back Gustavo Ferrareis. The winger began to be the protagonist with shots looking for the diagonal towards the center.
The last of the first half was from a set piece by Beto Herrera, forcing the home goalkeeper to intervene.
There were no major surprises after the restart, despite the fact that the lead was only one goal: the home team continued to dominate for the first twenty minutes of the second half, but without any clear chances.
On the Mexican side, the offensive threat was conspicuous by its absence. But even before the entrances of Brayan Angulo, Rafael Durán and Luis García with 15 minutes to go, Puebla raised their lines.
Inter Miami took advantage of this with three flashes of great quality. Gressel started a magnificent play In the 72nd minute, with a measured pass to the left side where Jordi Alba was waiting, who repeated the connection with Suárez to define with his usual class and the goalkeeper already defeated.
It was the final straw and the first three points for the champions, who are starting their second Leagues Cup in the same way they did in their first: winning at home, although in this case without Messi.
*With information from EFE.
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