After a setback over the weekend, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami have to keep winning if they want any shot at winning the Supporters’ Shield, beginning with Tuesday’s home match against a Chicago Fire side looking for one more win to end its playoff drought.
Miami (16-6-8, 56 points) still has two matches in hand on Shield-leading Philadelphia. But after a 1-1 draw to 12th place Toronto on Saturday, the Herons now need Philadelphia to lose one of its final two matches to have any shot at overtaking them for the best regular-season record.
Miami is still sixth in the Shield standings, but would surpass the four others if it wins all four of their remaining matches as the team makes up contests rescheduled from earlier this season.
In Toronto, Miami led 6-2 in shots on goal, but was held by a strong effort from goalkeeper Sean Johnson as the Reds earned a seventh consecutive draw.
“I think their goalkeeper was the man of the match, so it’s hard,” Miami manager Javier Mascherano said after the game, in Spanish. “All we can do is move forward. We have four more games. So we will try to win all the games and try to finish strong.”
Messi registered an assist on Tadeo Allende’s late first half goal, but failed to add to his MLS-leading total of 24 goals.
Chicago (14-11-6, 48 points) will also face Toronto during its close to the season as the Fire tries to end an MLS-worst playoff drought of seven years. But first comes one of their stiffest tests of the season, visiting a Miami side that has only lost twice at home.
The good news for manager Gregg Berhalter is his side’s confidence should be high after a 2-0 home win against the Columbus Crew on Saturday. Andrew Gutman’s tallied in the 25th minute and Hugo Cuypers added some insurance in the second half.
The Fire would move above Columbus into eighth place in the Eastern Conference and clinch a playoff spot with a win Tuesday.
A draw would move Chicago to the brink of a postseason berth, putting them six points up on New York Red Bulls with two matches to play, meaning one Red Bulls draw/loss or one Chicago win/draw in any of their final two matches apiece would end the drought.
“I think our first half was the best first half, or the best half of soccer that we played all year so far,” said Berhalter. “But we also know that we have a difficult week coming up … so we’re going to have to be focused if we want to keep climbing.”
–Field Level Media
