Jamie Sands powered home an injury-time header to dramatically deny Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami victory over New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Messi was far from his best throughout Saturday’s encounter but produced a moment of genuine quality to tee up what appeared to be the winning goal with 15 minutes remaining, sliding a perfectly-timed through ball into the path of Jordi Alba, who squared to substitute Leo Campana for a simple tap-in.
NYCFC spurned several golden opportunities to level the scores and seemed to be on track for their second home defeat in three days before Sands rose highest to meet Santiago Rodriguez’s corner and score his first-ever goal for the club in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time.
“I’m really proud of the spirit of the group and the desire and the hunger,” NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing said. “We had a game plan defensively that we felt would give us the best chance of keeping the superstars quiet.
“You’ve got to keep these guys quiet, and you’ve got to be able to defend the game and protect your goalkeeper. When they get moments, your goalkeeper’s got to produce. For us, it was about denying the space that they got.”
Saturday’s game was often a feisty affair, with the sides sharing nine yellow cards, including five in a heated eight-minute spell in the second half that saw assistant coach Tata Martino Jr. sent off.
NYCFC was greatly improved from Wednesday’s damaging 5-1 defeat against Philadelphia Union and probably shaded the game over 90 minutes, restricting space for the likes of Messi and Suarez throughout.
Messi, playing in only his third game since suffering an ankle injury in the Copa America in July, drew an almost sell-out crowd of 44,378 to Yankee Stadium but often failed to replicate the pinpoint accuracy and precision dribbling that have defined his glittering career.
NYCFC is now without a win in MLS games, but Saturday’s dramatic equalizer has given them real belief ahead of two colossal matches against New York Red Bulls and Cincinnati.
Inter Miami remain clear at the top of the Eastern Conference but have now failed to win back-to-back games after drawing in Atlanta during the week.
Both sides struggled to create genuine goalscoring opportunities in a cagey first half, with NYCFC doing well to stifle Messi and Suarez’s threat but failing to make any inroads at the other end.
Messi went closest to opening the scoring for the visitors with a whipped freekick that drifted inches wide of the post after five minutes.
NYCFC went close with a freekick of their own minutes later when Rodriguez’s effort went through the wall, forcing Drake Callender into a scrambling save.
There was a buzz of excitement whenever Messi touched the ball in the first period, but the Argentine maestro, playing in only his third game since suffering an ankle injury in the Copa America final two months ago, was often subdued throughout the opening half.
On the one occasion that he did manage to throw off the shackles of the NYCFC defense and go on a trademark run into the penalty area, Tayvon Gray made a timely intervention before Messi could get a shot off.
NYCFC upped the ante at the beginning of the second half and should have taken the lead when Rodriguez slipped in Keaton Parks, who blazed high and wide from an excellent position inside the penalty area.
Alonso Martinez went close 60 seconds later, curling a long-range effort inches wide of Callender’s post.
Hannes Wolf spurned two golden opportunities to open the scoring on the hour-mark, failing to connect with a volley at the back post before finishing tamely from a promising position inside the area, with Callender gathering at the second attempt.
Messi’s influence began to tell down the home stretch, with the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner picking up increasingly promising positions in the NYCFC half.
He made that influence tell with a quarter of an hour remaining, putting Alba through on goal with a glorious through ball before the left-back unselfishly squared for Campana to open the scoring.
Rodriguez spurned a glorious opportunity to snatch an equalizer three minutes from time when he blazed over from close range after being picked out by a clever flick from Maxi Moralez.
There was still time for Sands to salvage a result, however, with the midfielder planting a header into the bottom corner five minutes into stoppage time.
