Lionel Messi’s Intermiami had one of the worst performances of the season, losing to his Florida rival at home.
Lionel Messi’s frustration grew as Intermiami continued his miserable run after losing to Orlando City in Major League Soccer (MLS) 3-0 at home.
Sunday’s loss of the Florida Derby led Miami to win one from their final seven games in all competitions. They slid to sixth in the Eastern Conference and Orlando jumped over them.
Messi only had two shots on the target and frayed the free kick as his form was down in his team’s form.
“Now we really check if we’re a team in difficult times because when everything goes well, it’s really easy,” Messi told Apple TV.
“When there are difficult times, it’s when we have to become more united than ever, become a real team and bring ourselves together,” he added.
Messi questioned the judge, but in reality the loss had little to do with the host, not with Shambolic’s defense, a disjointed midfield, and a punchless offense led by the rapidly fading Luis Suarez.
Orlando grabbed the lead in the 43rd minute with a goal of absurd simplicity. Goalkeeper Pedro Galazé launched the Ball Downfield, and Louis Muriel ran clear and passed Oscar Ustali.
Visitors were delighted enough from fighting the Miami backline directly. Argentina’s Martin Ojeda should have done better when he was revealed in the goal, but it exploded.
Miami veteran keeper Ustali made a great double save, but the 38-year-old was to blame for Orlando’s second goal.
The ball fell to Marco Pasaric at the edge of the box, and his low shot went through Ustali’s hands and legs, doubleping Orlando’s lead.
Miami coach Javier Maschelano threw on attacking players to retrieve something from the game, but that was in vain.
During the four minutes of downtime, Duncan McGuire broke down the left and his low cross returned home by Icelandic forward Dagger Sawhalson, closing off an impressive performance from visitors.
Miami has conceded 20 goals in their last seven games, and their only victory came on May 3rd against the New York Red Bulls.
Maschreano said the initial goal changed the game.
“I was completely under control for 25 or 30 minutes, half of the opponent, and this is obviously true. I’m not going to deny what the outcome is,” he said.
Miami’s MLS campaign was well underway until the Vancouver Whitecaps played in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Mascherano admitted that the team’s morale was hit.
“Obviously something happened where the team lost a lot of confidence. We’ve been lowering the level individually and collectively. That’s obvious in some way. We’ve tried different schemes, different names, but it still hurts today. We try to find our way.”