Inter Miami, without Messi and Suarez, edged 2-1 by Tigres but advance in Leagues Cup

Both teams had already advanced to the Leagues Cup Round of 32 before kickoff, and Inter Miami had secured home field advantage for the next game. Still, Miami coach Tata Martino said the Saturday night match in Houston against Mexican power Tigres was important and a perfect barometer to see how his team measured up with another Cup favorite.

He found out that defending the Leagues Cup title is a reasonable goal, but will not be easy.

Tigres edged Miami 2-1 to win the group in front of a largely pro-Tigres crowd of 46,080 fans at NRG Stadium. These two teams could meet again in the quarterfinals, as they are in the same quarter of the bracket.

Inter Miami plays its Round of 32 match at home Thursday against Toronto FC, which beat Mexican club Pachuca 2-1 on Sunday. Miami and Toronto faced each other July 17 in an MLS league game and Miami won 3-1.

Three of Inter Miami’s four marquee players were not in the starting lineup Saturday night.

Captain and Argentine icon Lionel Messi is out indefinitely with an ankle ligament injury he suffered during the Copa America final on July 14. He is no longer in a protective walking boot, but had not returned to training on the field as of Friday. Luis Suarez stayed home to rest sore knees so that he will be healthy for the knockout stage, Martino said. And Sergio Busquets spent the first 68 minutes on the bench.

Tigres dominated possession early and took the lead in the 18th minute on a right-footed goal by Argentine midfielder Juan Brunetta, who received the ball on a header from Nicolas Ibanez. Miami had two shots on goal in the first half, but was unable to finish, and trailed 1-0 at halftime.

Miami came out strong in the second half, and forward Leo Campana, starting in the absence of Suarez, converted a penalty kick with a left-footed shot in the 74th minute for the equalizer after being fouled by Guido Pizarro. Juan Vigon scored the game-winner in the 84th minute after pouncing on a poor clearance from Miami center back Sergiy Kryvtsov, who had just come in as a substitute.

Campana had a chance to score a second equalizer late, but Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman made a world-class save.

“I felt Leo played well, especially in the second half,” Martino said. “He was one of our best players in the second half, moved well, dropped back, got more involved, scored the penalty kick and then made another great shot that against any other keeper would have been a goal.”

Martino was satisfied with the result.

“When your team wins as much as we have this season, it’s good to find out where you really stand by facing a top-tier team like Tigres, and I feel more confident after this game that we are on a good path,” Martino said. “We tied the game and had two chances to tie again but Nahuel prevented that. I feel our team probably deserved a bit more than what we go home with, but we played well in a game that really was a road game, and I feel we showed, even with key players missing, that we can compete with top flight teams.”

Inter Miami’s Starting XI vs. Tigres was Drake Callender, Tomas Aviles, Matias Rojas, Campana, David Martinez, Robert Taylor, Jordi Alba, Julian Gressel, Yannick Bright, Fede Redondo and Chelo Weigandt.

Callender returned to the starting lineup after resting the Leagues Cup opener against Liga MX team Puebla last Saturday, which Miami won 2-0 with backup C.J. Dos Santos minding the net. Aviles also missed the Puebla game as he was in concussion protocol after a mild head injury.

Kryvtsvov, Franco Negri, David Ruiz, and Leo Afonso came off the bench during the second half.

In addition to Messi and Suarez, Inter Miami was missing midfielders Benjamin Cremaschi and Diego Gomez, who participated in the Paris Olympics. Cremaschi, who was representing Team USA, and Gomez, representing Paraguay, are headed back after their teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

“We were missing four players, and I feel when we have our full roster, we will be deep enough to be at the same level as the top teams in Mexico,” Martino said. Inter Miami has the best record in MLS with nine regular season games remaining and will resume league play in late August after the Leagues Cup is over.

Gressel felt both teams played well on Saturday, but Miami conceded two goals it shouldn’t have and the teams needs to learn from its mistakes.

“The margins for error are very thin now that we are going into the knockout stage,” Gressel said.

Tigres went with a starting lineup of: Nahuel Guzman, Diego Reyes, Guido Pizarro, Jesus Angula, Javier Aquino, Brunetta, Rafael Carioca, Fernando Gorriaran, Ibanez, Marcelo Flories and Luis Quinones.

Tigres is one of Mexico’s most successful and popular teams. The club has won eight league titles. In the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup, Tigres finished runner-up to Bayern Munich, becoming the first CONCACAF club to reach a Club World Cup final.

Martino, who coached the Mexican national team from 2019 to 2022, is quite familiar with Liga MX, Tigres and its Serbian coach Veljko Paunovic, who crossed paths with Martino from 2016-18 when Martino coached Atlanta United and Paunovic coached the Chicago Fire.

Tickets for the Inter Miami vs. Toronto game on Thursday at Chase Stadium start at $45 and are available at TicketMaster.com.