Player Ratings From Inter Miami's Rotated Match vs. CF Montreal
+ Plus an update on Messi's health
photo credit: Inter Miami CF
Inter Miami continued their 2024 MLS campaign at home against CF Montreal.
After a heavy game against Nashville a few days prior, it was only natural that Miami would rotate their starting eleven.
The Herons rolled out in a 3-5-2, moreso out of necessity rather than practicality. After trading DeAndre Yedlin, Miami doesn’t have a natural right-back on the roster.
Though many clamor for Julian Gressel to slot into the position, the German-American has shown that he’s far more effective in midfield, pushing the tempo in the final third.
There have been murmurs that Miami is reportedly in for Boca Juniors right-back Marcelo Weigandt, but negotiations are still ongoing.
Until that comes to fruition, the Herons may have to stick to this formation out of need rather than it being a stylistic choice.
Regardless of the result, it’s MLS, and losing games is inevitable. Questionable refereeing aside, it’s admirable that the team has the perseverance to fight til the end. I’m sure the squad will make note of mistakes that were made and adjust accordingly before the next match.
That said, here are Player Ratings from Miami’s game vs. CF Montreal.
*I’ll rate every player on a scale of 1 to 10, with 5 being average.*
Goalkeeping, Defense:
🧤 Drake Callender - 6: Looked shaky at the back. Uncharacteristically like him.
💈 David Ruiz - 7: Put in a decent shift at right-wing-back.
🦌 Tomas Avilés - 6.5: Was at fault for the first goal, and shied away from the 50/50 challenge which would’ve put the attacker off balance.
🏋️ Serhiy Kryvtsov - 6: Once again, very slow and unathletic. Doesn’t look comfortable defending one v. one.
🐥 Noah Allen - 6.7: Hustled well and was pushing hard in attack at the end. Quickly becoming a Swiss-army-knife player for Martino.
💨 Jordi Alba - 8: Casually scored a Goal of the Year candidate.
Midfield:
🥨 Julian Gressel - 7.3: The fact that Tata chose to put him in midfield instead on the wing, shows how much Gressel’s skill set is needed through the middle.
🐞 Federico Redondo - 6.8: A solid showing from the youngster. Progressed the ball well, and dictated the tempo from deep.
🦩 Lawson Sunderland - 6: Ghosted for large parts of the game.
Attack:
🛎️ Leonardo Campana - 6.7: Had a couple of goal-scoring opportunities where he elected to pass instead of shoot. But, he managed to score his first goal of the season, which was nice.
🪽 Robert Taylor - 6.8: Was quite active in the latter parts of the first half. Had a couple of looks on goal where he should’ve scored.
Substitutes:
✌️ Diego Gomez - 5: Didn’t really do much besides hustle and recover the ball well.
🐻 Nicolás Freire - 6: Put in a difficult spot, but tried his best!
🧮 Sergio Busquets - 7: Did well to push the game forward.
🔫 Luis Suárez - 5: Appreciate the passion!
🦒 Shanyder Borgelin - 5: Missed a big chance at the end, there. Unfortunately, it shouldn’t have gotten to that point for Inter Miami to rely on a Homegrown to tie the game for them.
Coaching:
🔢 Tata Martino - 6: A lot of the wounds on the field were self-inflicted by the players. I explained above why Tata keeps sticking with the 3-5-2 despite it not being Miami’s strongest formation. Until the front office brings in a proper right-back, Tata will continue to roll out the team this way.
A quick note on…Messi’s physical condition
He’s fine:
From Tata Martino post game:
“No matter what happened in Nashville, we agreed that this was the game that he would be rotated out. We spoke about this a week ago.”
Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below! Let’s discuss it!
Different vibe at Chase Stadium. Most STH/Supporters figured this would be the rotation for the match so no surprises. Biggest surprise for me was Callender’s level of play. I would have given him a 5 maybe 5.5. Granted the officiating was awful ( 6 yellows to 1), but we should be better. Missing Yedlin as you said and wont’t have an answer soon enough in my book. Just didn’t capitalize when had opportunity and need to create more. Tata should have figured much of this out when scheduling the world tour and the knowing the tournaments to come. I get the world stage etc. but at home… we defend our pitch.