Ten-man Inter Miami defeated Cincinnati 2-0 at Chase Stadium on Saturday, earning a spot in the Major League Soccer playoffs for the first time this season thanks to two goals from Luis Suarez.
Veteran Uruguayan Suarez scored the first goal of the match in just 32 seconds, and he added another five minutes later as Miami, without injured star Lionel Messi, advanced to the playoffs.
Miami leads Cincinnati, which is in second place in the Eastern Conference, by eight points.
Messi hasn’t played since July 14 when Argentina defeated Colombia in the Copa America final, when he sustained an ankle injury.
But Miami expect Messi will be back before the end of the regular season which concludes on October 19 with the playoffs beginning the following week.
Cincinnati humiliated Miami with a 6-1 victory over Gerardo Martino’s team in Ohio on July 6th and the way the game started indicated Inter were determined to avenge that loss.
Yannick Bright fed Marcelo Weigandt down the right and the Argentine found Suarez who brought the ball down before burying it in the net.
After a deft one-two with Matias Rojas, former Barcelona striker Suarez increased the lead with another clean finish while former NFL great Tom Brady and Miami co-owner David Beckham watched on.
Up until three minutes before the half, Miami appeared to be in complete control of the match. This changed when their Argentinean defender, Tomas Aviles, was sent off for a second yellow card after lunging recklessly at Kevin Kelsy.
During the intermission, Cincinnati introduced Luciano Acosta, the current Most Valuable Player in the league, who was sidelined due to an injury.
And while the Argentine added a creative edge in the second half, he wasn’t able to stop Cincinnati from suffering a fourth straight loss in the league.
Miami kept their shape and discipline as they protected their lead with Italian midfielder Yannick Bright delivering another impressive performance.
