Player Ratings From Inter Miami's Sluggish Draw vs. El Salvador

photo credit: Inter Miami CF

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Inter Miami kicked off its preseason with a 0-0 draw vs. El Salvador.

Excitement was in the air when the Herons landed in Central America, with a wave of fans gathering together near the airport to greet the men in pink as they touched down:

In a sense, though it’s preseason, the game gave fans and pundits a glimpse of what Miami could do as a squad as the 2024 season inches closer.

I will say the original starting eleven was looking very experimental, but I do think that has to do with Miami’s lack of true center-back options as opposed to Tata wanting to play two fullbacks as central defenders. 🤷🏽‍♀️

But, I’ll have some thoughts on that in a future article…

Aside from that, during the match, the Herons looked limp and fatigued. It’s preseason, so I won’t overanalyze like some, but there were certainly pros and cons, Facu Farias’ injury aside.

Without further ado, here are the player ratings for Inter Miami’s match-up against El Salvador.

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*I’ll be rating every player on a scale of 1 to 10, with 5 being average. And I'm basing this on mainly the first 45 minutes. For the substitutes, I’ll judge accordingly. *

Player Ratings:

Goalkeeping, Defense:

• 🧤 CJ dos Santos - 5: Didn’t have much to do, but look sharp when coming off his line.

• 🥨 Julian Gressel - 6: The wing-back Inter Miami needed. Provided hustle down the right flank and kept the 3-5-2 balanced. It’s preseason and his sharpness will come.

• 🏎️ DeAndre Yedlin - 6.5: Did surprisingly well as a center-back. I see why Tata put him there. Used his pace well and had solid defensive positioning. Played decent next to Avilés.

• 🦌 Tomas Avilés - 7.5: Definitely hit the gym over the off-season! Looked very comfortable in the center of Miami’s back three. Snuffed out every El Salvador attack, bar that one iffy incident in the 25th(?) minute.

• 🐥 Noah Allen - 7: Like Yedlin, did quite well as a central defender. Had the speed to get back and also showed his comfort on the ball.

  💨 Jordi Alba - 6.5: Looked gassed by halftime, but it’s preseason and fitness will come. Had a couple of good runs to the goal. Typical Alba stuff. 👏

  Midfield:

• 💪 Benjamin Cremaschi - 6: Did well, but still needs to work on his ball control between the lines. Other than that, the kid still had boundless amounts of energy.

• 🧮 Sergio Busquets - 5: A really poor game by his standards. Looked slow, had several misplaced passes, and couldn’t control the game like he usually does.

• 🐺 Gregore - 6.8: Grew into the match. Shut down a lot of El Salvador attacks through the middle. By the end of the first 45, he was still making tertiary runs into the opposition's 18-yard box. What an absolute warrior.

  Attack:

• 🐐 Lionel Messi - 7: Trying to make things happen, had some good looks on goal. Unfortunate not to finish!

• 🔫 Luis Suárez - 6: New boy! Still trying to get into the flow of this system Tata implemented. He may have busted knees, but the competitiveness is still there. Needs time to settle and build fitness.

Substitutes:

• 🧔‍♂️ Leonardo Campana - 5.7: Had a couple of good looks, but ultimately didn’t do much.

• 🪽 Robert Taylor - 6: Did his typical Robert Taylor thing. Looked fit, and comfortable on the wing. Depending on the severity of Farias’ injury, he’ll be getting a lot more minutes this season.

• 💈 David Ruiz - 5: Looked okay. Didn’t affect the game too much.

• 🦒 Chris McVey - 5: A couple of shaky moments, but managed to keep the clean sheet, if that’s anything.

• 👶 Facundo Farias - : 🙏

• 🏋️ Serhiy Kryvtsov -: 5: Like McVey, had shaky moments, but didn’t concede.

• 🦩 Lawson Sunderland - N/A: Had a couple of solid passes. Kinda ghosted throughout the last 45.

• ⛵ Ryan Sailor - 4: Didn’t look too comfortable. Often got beat for pace.

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A quick note on Facundo Farias:

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Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below! Let’s discuss it!