Federico Redondo has carved out a niche as one of Inter Miami’s enforcers, a rugged, occasionally nasty physical presence among the Herons’ galaxy of skillful stars. And the talented young midfielder’s summary of Saturday’s Round One series decider vs. Atlanta United at Chase Stadium (8 pm ET | MLS Season Pass) was characteristically menacing, and accurate.
“Es un partido de matar o morir,” the Argentine told reporters in Spanish on Wednesday, which translates as “it’s a game in which to kill or be killed.”
As historically excellent as their regular season performance was, Redondo noted, it was all just prelude to moments like this.
“The beautiful thing about soccer is that it doesn’t matter what happened in the past; you have to win in the present,” he said. “Everything we did in the past is useless if we don’t win this week. I hope Saturday we play like we did the first game and are able to win and advance.
“The reality is that soccer is very dynamic, you have to go on the field and show it not with words, but by winning, and nothing more.”
Season on the line
Miami dominated MLS for the past eight months en route to a Supporters’ Shield capture and a new single-season points record. They remain heavily favored against the Five Stripes even in the wake of ATLUTD’s impressive 2-1 comeback home win in Game 2, due first and foremost to the plain fact that Leo Messi and his devastating attacking foils Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba & Co. will be in uniform.
More often than not, Messi has been more than enough for IMCF this year. Yet his squad now find themselves in one of their first must-win situations together, needing an improved performance to stave off the shocking specter of a bottom-seeded upstart crashing their Audi MLS Cup Playoffs party way, way sooner than planned.
Their task may be significantly complicated by a deepening injury crisis that has ruled out a litany of key contributors, including Yannick Bright, David Ruiz, Ian Fray and Sergii Kryvtsov, sapping Martino’s options for a defensive unit that’s already looked wobbly and error-prone for long stretches of the year. The good news is Sergio Busquets, who missed Game 2, was medically cleared to play after Friday's session and is now listed as "questionable" for the series decider.
“Look, it is true that we have had some mistakes that almost constantly have not cost us goals,” said Martino in Spanish in Friday’s matchday-1 media availability. “There are times when teams make mistakes that go unnoticed because they don't end up inside the goal, and we have had some mistakes that have put us in this position, in a difficult situation, perhaps in the same game. But it is also true that we have had a team that has overcome that type of situation and that throughout the year we have solved it in the best way.”
Martino vs. Valentino
The Herons have posted just three clean sheets in 25 matches across all competitions since May, and none of them were against ATLUTD, who took four of six points from their regular-season meetings. Martino pointed to a 3-1 Five Stripes away win in late spring that, remarkably, is Miami’s most recent home setback.
Martino clearly respects the organization and tenacity that interim coach Rob Valentino, once a junior member of his own staff in Atlanta, has instilled in his former club.
“If I remember correctly, it was the last game we lost at home, and I think there are two things that we have limited quite a bit: being attacked in open spaces … [and] that they don't hurt us with positional attacks, like the one-two [combination play] that led to their goal [in Game 1],” said the Argentine manager.
“In that sense we have evolved a lot and I think those are the strengths that Atlanta has, that it is a team that can be comfortable in possession of the ball and feels comfortable when they don’t have it, too. That speaks very well of the work of Rob and all his people.”
Cinderella swagger
Conversely, Atlanta return to South Florida with soaring confidence and a ‘why not us’ mindset. The Five Stripes weathered periods of suffocating pressure from the Herons in the series opener yet remained in contention to the very end, thanks to dogged defending, opportunistic counterattacking and some unreal shot-stopping from goalkeeper Brad Guzan. Then they stood toe to toe with Miami on home turf last weekend and won.
“In the first game, they had a ton of chances, and Brad stood on his head. And sometimes you need that when your team is tired,” veteran center mid Dax McCarty told MLSsoccer.com this week. “But then in the second game, we had energy, we had our home crowd behind us, we had life. You could see how much more even the game was and how much actually you can hurt them on the other side of the ball.
“Going back to Miami, we know exactly what the game is going to look like. They will have the ball. You know that they're going to press us high, they're going to do all those things that made them successful in the regular season. But I feel like as a group, we're ready for it, and we're not scared of what's to come. We know it's going to be a massive challenge, but we're excited for the challenge.”
With so much on the line, Martino and his players say they are keeping calm and carrying on like usual. Besides, he noted, with the postseason format shifting to one-game rounds after this weekend, it will remain win-or-else from here on out.
“Regarding the game itself, it is the best-case scenario,” said Martino. “There are four finals left. Each of the remaining games has the characteristics of a final game and we, with the expectations we have, are ready to face it in the best way. There is not much more to it if things go as they should.”
