Player Ratings From Inter Miami's 80s Themed Match vs. the Chicago Fire

Neon 🤝 Miami

Jul 21, 2024

photo credit: Inter Miami CF

Inter Miami go five points clear in the Supporter’s Shield race with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire.

The match comes just days after Miami’s emphatic home victory vs. Toronto FC.

With Lionel Messi out for the next few weeks, the Herons had to rack up as many points as possible before heading into the Leagues Cup break. Tata Martino’s men continue to do that with flawless efficiency, despite their talisman being sidelined by injury.

Miami’s latest win over Chicago gives the men in pink some breathing room in the Eastern Conference standings and the aforementioned Shield race.

The game itself couldn’t have gone better for the Herons. Though the finishing should’ve been better, Miami was able to create multiple chances on goal that kept the Fire on their toes.

Here are Player Ratings from Miami’s win vs. Chicago.

Goalkeeping, Defense:

🧤 Drake Callender - 9: Had multiple saves that saved Miami three points. He isn’t called ‘Super Drake’ for no reason.
💨 Jordi Alba - 9.2: Got the game-winning goal and was integral to Miami’s forward progression.
🧮 Sergio Busquets - 8.3: One of his better games at center-back. Wiped away the awful taste of that FC Cincinnati loss.
🦌 Tomas Avilés - 8.5: Another great game from the youngster. Slowly getting better in his decision-making as well.
🎻 Marcelo Weigandt - 7.5: Was active on Miami’s right-hand side and combined well Julian Gressel.

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Midfield:

🐞 Federico Redondo - 8.6: Miami’s metronome in midfield. Enjoying the budding partnership he’s building with Yannick Bright.
☀️ Yannick Bright - 8.9: One of the better players on the field. His positional awareness and ragged tenacity in the middle of the pitch gave Miami the extra bite they needed to nullify Chicago’s midfielders.
💉 Matias Rojas - 8: Got the game-opening goal, probably should’ve had two. Appreciate his flair.

Attack:

🥨 Julian Gressel - 8.2: Hustled well. Had a howler in the first half, but his delivers won’t go unnoticed.
🔫 Luis Suárez - 7.9: Pretty good night for ‘Lucho.’ Served up a handful of mouth-watering chances for his teammates, but unfortunately, none of them went in.
🪽 Robert Taylor - 8.7: Great game from RT. Set up the opening goal flawlessly.

Substitutes:

💈 David Ruiz - 7: Great cameo from the Honduran. Got into tackles and drew fouls to take the pressure out of the game. I see Busquets has taught him well.
🦁 Leo Afonso - 6.4: Dying to see him start one of these days. Think his pace on Miami’s front line will do wonders.
🐥 Noah Allen - 6: Had a couple of mistakes that could’ve been costly, but did well besides that.
🍳 Ian Fray - 6.6: Did well to prevent the Fire from getting an equalizer.

Coaching:

🔢 Tata Martino - 7.5: Going to be slightly critical here. Do think his substitutes could’ve come on earlier. Though he ultimately got it correct, Miami should’ve been reactive to what Chicago manager Frank Klopas was doing. Besides that, the switch to the back three was good. It gave Miami a line of five to defend with, as well as options heading forward.

Diego Gomez is heading to the Premier League:

Thoughts on the match? How do you feel about Diego heading to Brighton? Let me know in the comments!