Inter Miami wins 1-0 at San Jose, but might have lost Higuain, Campana for next game
One beautiful goal and tenacious defense made up for a slew of missed chances as Inter Miami fended off 22 San Jose shots and got its second road win of the season, 1-0 at PayPal Park Wednesday night.
With the win Miami moved up to eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, one spot shy of the playoff line with 11 games remaining. The team now embarks on the second leg of its 7,600-mile road trip, heading to Montreal to prepare for a Saturday night game it might have to play without leading scorers Leo Campana and Gonzalo Higuain.
Campana left Wednesday’s game after 20 minutes with a thigh injury. Coach Phil Neville called him “a major doubt” for the game against CF Montreal. Higuain took an elbow to the jaw during a San Jose corner kick, came off the field after being examined by trainers, and was in a lot of pain after the game. He was going to have the jaw X-rayed and his status for Saturday is questionable.
Campana and Higuain have scored 15 of Miami’s 27 goals this season, and Higuain was in top form of late, coming off a hat trick in the previous game.
Despite the injuries, Neville was happy with the road win and optimistic about the team’s chances going forward.
“Obviously, it was a good three points,” Neville said. “We’re keeping level-headed. We spoke the past few days about taking the next step, and that’s winning on the road. We’ve won one on the road and have another big one on Saturday in Montreal.”
He said half the locker room was happy with the victory and the other half – the players who missed scoring chances – were frustrated and disappointed. Among those on that list: Higuain, Campana, Ariel Lassiter, and Emerson, all of whom had clear chances to score and didn’t.
“We had real clear cut chances, we had three or four goals were real clear opportunities to score and that’s the anger and disappointment from the forwards,” Neville said. “But the resilience was there, the spirit and togetherness was there…we defended for our lives and I feel we’re on a really good run.”
Neville opted for an offensive-minded starting lineup with Higuain, Campana, Alejandro Pozuelo up top and Robert Taylor and DeAndre Yedlin joining the attack as wing backs. His back three were Kieran Gibbs, Damion Lowe and Christopher McVey.
Miami took the lead in the 12th minute when Brazilian midfielder Jean Mota ripped a long shot from the outside of his left foot into the top right corner of the net “where the spiders live,’’ in the words of T.V. analyst Ray Hudson.
It was Mota’s first MLS goal.
“The minute I struck the ball, I knew it was going in,” Mota said. “I am very happy to have my first MLS goal, and happy I could help the team get this win because we knew the importance of this game.”
Campana had a good chance to make it 2-0 after a perfectly timed through pass from Pozuelo but he shot directly to Earthquakes goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski, who made the save. Campana’s night ended a few minutes later when he dropped to the field and grabbed his left leg. He had just returned to the starting lineup the previous game after a right knee injury kept him out of two games.
Lassiter went in for Campana and Miami seemed to lose its edge, allowing San Jose to gain momentum.
Miami had a few opportunities to put the game away, but Higuain swung and missed on a shot from close range and Lassiter had a shot with the Quakes goalkeeper on the ground, but a San Jose defender blocked it at the goal mouth.
The Earthquakes dominated possession in the second half and took control of the match. By the end of the night, San Jose had led possession 62 percent to 38 and took 22 shots to nine for Miami. Lucky for Inter Miami, none of the Earthquakes’ shots found the back of the net. Goalkeeper Drake Callender made a few huge saves and the team defended well as a unit after conceding four goals to FC Cincinnati in a 4-4 tie last weekend.
Higuain was subbed out in the 72nd minute. He was replaced by speedy Colombian Emerson. Bryce Duke and Victor Ulloa entered the game in the 84th minute, replacing Lassiter and Mota. Joevin Jones and Ryan Sailor came off the bench late in the game.
Although Emerson missed numerous scoring chances, Neville was pleased with his speed and energy.
“I thought Emerson changed the game for us,” Neville said. “We were being pegged back, couldn’t get out, and he came on and he did everything I thought he would apart from that last bit. He missed one and then every chance he got he seemed to be lacking the confidence to put the next one in. It’s a brilliant learning curve for him. He’s one of the angry people in the dressing room.”
Newly-signed winger Corentin “Coco” Jean missed the game with an adductor injury. His status is day to day.
Asked how he felt about traveling 7,600 miles over five days, Neville said: “It is a disgrace, but we can’t do anything about it. This team has overcome so many obstacles, this is another obstacle and step we have to take. There are lots of bad things happening in the world, and maybe traveling six hours across America is not the worst thing to do to play a game of football.”
