Gonzalo Higuain’s two goals against Columbus keep Inter Miami playoff hopes alive
The final whistle finally blew at 12:25 a.m. Wednesday, and it was well worth the wait for Inter Miami, which overcame a two and a half hour lightning delay and beat the Columbus Crew 2-1 in a pivotal game in the MLS playoff race.
Gonzalo Higuain scored both Miami goals – one in each half, one with each foot – and goalkeeper Drake Callender made his biggest save of the season in stoppage time to seal the victory.
Inter Miami’s playoff hopes, while faint, remain alive with four games left in the regular season.
The win pushed Miami into eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings with 39 points – ahead of New England (38) and just one slot shy of Columbus, which holds the seventh and final playoff spot in the East with 41 points.
Miami’s remaining games are at last-place D.C. United on Sunday, at 13th-place Toronto Sept. 30, and then at home Oct. 5 against fifth-place Orlando City and Oct. 9 against second-place Montreal, which already clinched a playoff spot.
“Some people might doubt us, we don’t,” said Inter Miami coach Phil Neville. “Our togetherness will get us where we want to go. There’s no holding back now, there’s no resting anyone. We’ve got four cup finals to go, and I firmly believe it’s in our own hands. Sunday we move on again. We’ve got to produce another big, big performance.”
Miami struck first on Tuesday night in the 25th minute when Higuain slotted in a right-footed shot after receiving a pass from a streaking Ariel Lassiter on a fast break.
The lead lasted 16 minutes before Cucho Hernandez scored the equalizer for the Crew with five minutes to go in the first half. The loosely covered 5-9 Colombian forward got at the end of a Steven Moreira cross and hit a bouncing header past 6-6 Miami defender Aime Mabika.
The teams headed into halftime knotted at 1-1 and the start of the second half was put on hold as lightning filled the sky around DRV PNK Stadium.
The game resumed at 11:35 p.m. Inter Miami players came out with boundless energy, as if they had spent the long break drinking Café Bustelo, one of the team’s sponsors.
Higuain scored the game winner in the 82nd minute. He blasted a left-footed shot from a tough angle past Crew goalkeeper Eloy Room after a through ball from Alejandro Pozuelo. The few hundred fans who remained in the stadium through the weather delay celebrated with pink smoke bombs.
Crew captain Jonathan Mensah said in a pre-game interview that they planned to make Higuain and Pozuelo chase the ball because they don’t like to run. Neville posted that comment on the locker room wall, and said it served as extra motivation. Higuain agreed.
“Mensah made those comments, and then got injured early in the game and we won with my two goals,” Higuain said. “I think you should be careful what you say before a game because it can come back to haunt you, but I have nothing against Mensah. I focus on me and my team, my family and my friends.”
The Argentine forward, who was booed by home fans as he struggled early this season, now leads Inter Miami with 12 goals, nine of which have come in the past 12 games.
Asked what changed for him in recent months, Higuain said getting back in the lineup and the signing of playmaker Pozuelo, who seems to have telepathy with Higuain on the field.
“I love to play, sometimes I play well, sometimes I don’t, but I love to play,” he said. “At the start of the season I had a low point, Leo (Campana) was playing well, and the coach chose to start him. I had the humility to accept it and keep working, knowing that my moments would come because the season is long and the most important games are at the end.”
Neville said Higuain has emerged as a leader despite not wearing the captain’s armband.
“He’s leading the team, inspiring everyone in that dressing room,” Neville said. “And I’d say the last two-and-a- half years that he’s been at this football club, he’s probably at times not done that. But I think he’s found a player in Pozeulo that’s on the same wavelength as him, and he’s found a dressing room that adore him, look up to him, respect him, but also need him for these big moments. In the rain delay he was the one that was driving everyone on.”
The Crew nearly tied the game in the waning seconds but Callender made a huge flying save over the bar to preserve the win. It was his biggest save of the season and Neville said he will keep the No. 1 jersey going forward after being replaced by Nick Marsman the previous two games.
“I think two games ago he hit a bit of a brick wall. He was mentally tired, physically tired,” Neville said. “It’s been a big season for him, and we took him out for a couple of games and Nick got in. It was always the plan to put Drake back in. He makes big saves in the big moments.”
More big moments await.
“We have to go on the road now and get the six points in Toronto and against D.C., that’s non-negotiable,” Neville said.
Miami Herald writer Payton Titus contributed to this report.
