By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC’s playoff chances took another blow tonight with a 2-0 road loss to Inter Miami tonight. German Berterame opened the scoring in the 20th minute, with Rodrigo De Paul doubling the Herons’ lead in the fourth added minute of the first half.
Here are three observations from the Pigeons’ loss.
New York City attack fails to launch
Throughout the match, New York City struggled to control the run of play and generate high-quality chances in Inter Miami’s final third. The Pigeons held 41 percent of the ball in the first half, creating six low-percentage shots that added up to just 0.17 expected goals.
New York City particularly struggled to threaten the Inter Miami penalty area, as all six of their shots came from outside of the box.
While the Pigeons ramped up the volume with eight shots in the second half, most of them didn’t seriously threaten Miami’s goal. The best chance from open play came in the 81st minute, when Kevin O’Toole lofted a cross to the back post for a Luighi header that narrowly missed from close range.
The Pigeons earned a penalty kick in the seventh and final minute of second half stoppage time, but Nico Fernandez Mercau’s attempt was saved by St. Clair.
Miami opens scoring with Berterame
While New York City never controlled a major stretch of the match, the Pigeons did a good job of holding Miami to just one major scoring chance in the first 19 minutes.
In the 20th minute, the Herons broke through. Rodrigo De Paul played a through ball into the box for Luis Suarez, who squared it to set up Berterame for the opening goal.
It was Berterame’s eighth goal of the season, and it ultimately set the tone for Inter Miami.
De Paul finishes off the match before halftime
Inter Miami had a couple of quality chances to get the second goal as the second half progressed. The best of those chances came in the 39th minute, when Berterame played a cross into Messi to set up a shot that went sailing over the bar.
Just before halftime, the pressure paid off. Inter Miami had numbers arriving in the final third, and Messi played a square ball to the edge of the area to set up a long-range goal for De Paul.
The goal doubled Miami’s lead with the final kick in the half, and it effectively put the match out of reach for New York City.
Next Match
New York City FC will return to the five boroughs to host LAFC in Queens on Saturday night. LAFC enters the matchday at sixth place in the Western Conference ahead of a 10:30 p.m. kickoff against Austin FC. Live radio commentary will get underway at 7:15 p.m. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio or at kickoff on the Apple TV Home Radio feature.
