He Inter Miami by Lionel Messi Thursday suffered a hard defeat 2-0 against Vancouver Whitecaps in the first leg of the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cupthat forces him to another great comeback in front of his hobby.
The Americans Brian White and Sebastian Berhalter scored the goals of the Canadian squad in the 24 and 85 minutes.
A total of 53,837 spectators crowded the BC Place Stadium of Vancouver for Messi’s visit, which lived a very gray night in front of the surprising leaders of the American League (MLS).
The Inter Host the second leg on Wednesday and will need a comeback like the one he achieved in the quarterfinals against Los Angeles FC, when he built three goals in disadvantage in his stadium.
“Today we lost and the first person is me but I still believe in this team,” said the Argentine Javier Mascherano, inter -technician, who tried to transfer the pressure to his rival.
We have “nothing to lose,” he said. “We have to think only about winning … the pressure is for Vancouver, they have to maintain the result.”
The Cup of Champions, the main club tournament of Concaf, is marked as a great goal for this Inter campaign, a very ambitious and eager franchise to conquer international titles in the last year of the Messi contract.
Last year, the Florida squad was eliminated in the quarterfinals in its first participation in this competition.
“We have to analyze (the game) internally as a team, try to learn from this and find a way to recover on Wednesday,” Mascherano demanded, which adds two losses in this tournament for any in its first eight games in the MLS.
Lionel Messi, neutralized
The students of the ‘Jefecito’ did not find themselves comfortable at any time on the artificial grass of the BC Place, where Messi had never played previously.
The Whitecaps threatened by the bands early and, in one of those combinations, the Ecuadorian Pedro Vite stung the first ball to the area for the irruption and header to the Brian White network.
The international striker thus ratified his great moment of form, with a dozen targets in 15 games this year, including a goals poker this month to Austin FC.
Vancouver, the best defense of the campaign in the MLS next to that of Inter, applied an effective marking on Messi, which in the first one only found space for a couple of auctions without much danger.
The Argentine star also twisted the gesture by engaging in a long dispute with Andrés Cubas after receiving a push from his compatriot.
In the second part, Inter grew in intensity but continued off in ideas, limiting itself to warning with a free kick that stopped the Japanese goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka.
Vancouver took advantage of it to increase his button in a center of the Jayden Nelson end that walked through the visiting area until Sebastian Berhalter finished it in the second stick making it the final 2-0.
“It feels good but we have one more game and we cannot get ahead … We have to take care of ours,” demanded the son of Gregg Berhalter, former United States coach.
In the other semifinal, Mexicans Tigres and Cruz Azul tied 1-1 on Wednesday’s first leg.
ALIGNMENTS:
Vancouver Whitecaps: Yohei Takaoka – Edier Ocampo, Tristan Blackmon, Ranko Veselinovic, Tat Johnson – Sebastian Berhalter, Andrés Cubas (Jean -Claude Ngara, 81), Ali Ahmed (Ralph Priso, 62) – Pedro Vite (Jayden Nelson, 82), Daniel Ríos (Emmanuel Sabbi, 46) and Brian White. DT: Jesper Sorensen.
Inter Miami: Óscar Ustari – Marcelo Weigandt, Maximiliano Falcón, Noah Allen, Jordi Alba – Sergio Busquets, Federico Redondo (Yannick Bright, 70), Telasco Segovia (Benjamin Cremaschi, 74), Tadeo Allende – Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez: Dt: Javier Mascherano.
