FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Supporters’ Shield. The MLS single-season points record. Lionel Messi leading arguably the most talented team in league history – all that brings little solace to Inter Miami CF after their shocking Round One elimination from the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
Saturday’s 3-2 Game 3 loss at home to Atlanta United delivered an unexpected and heartbreaking end to a season that began with the highest of expectations, most notably lifting MLS Cup presented by Audi on Dec. 7.
Instead, Miami are on the receiving end of possibly the biggest upset ever seen in MLS: crashing out in Round One against the Eastern Conference’s ninth-seeded side that needed a Decision Day miracle to sneak into the playoffs.
Unmet expectations
“If you think about the expectations we had for the playoffs, we evidently fell too short,” head coach Gerardo Martino said postmatch, shortly after saying this season can’t be considered a success for the club.
“They’re sad, as they should be,” Tata responded when asked about the mood of his players in the locker room. “As it should be when there’s so much expectation and the team can’t meet it. In the final stretch of the year we’d gotten used to achieving our objectives, and we weren’t able to achieve the most important one.”
Goalkeeper Drake Callender echoed Martino’s feelings of disappointment.
“It sucks, it hurts. We wanted to give more to the fans who’ve supported us all year long. This will definitely stick with me,” Callender said.
“… I think it’s tough to kind of find words for the group. I think we all expected more of ourselves and we felt like this was a game we could’ve won and we didn’t.”
Shock exit
Miami appeared to be headed in the right direction after Matías Rojas gave the hosts a 17th-minute lead. But Jamal Thiaré flipped the game on its head for Atlanta just two minutes later with a two-minute brace (19’, 21’). Miami leveled the score via Messi's 65th-minute header, before Bartosz Slisz nodded in the eventual match-winner in the 76th minute.
The deciding goal came with Tomás Avilés laying on the pitch and his Miami teammates pleading with referee Lukasz Szpala to halt play. Szpala let the action continue and the Five Stripes took full advantage, much to the dismay of Martino.
“There was a very similar play in Game 2 in Atlanta where Fede [Redondo] was attacking and there was a player, I think it was [Jay] Fortune, lying on the pitch and we kicked the ball out of bounds,” Martino said. “But that’s what we would do, it’s what we did.”
For Callender, one particular moment can't explain Miami’s premature playoff exit.
“You can look back and we did all these things this year: Supporters’ Shield, points record. But at the end of the day, playoffs is a new landscape,” the 27-year-old said. “You’ve got to be able to beat the team that you’re lining up against.
“… The expectation is to win, and when that doesn’t happen it hurts pretty bad.”
That pain was also palpable in Chase Stadium, where fans watched in stunned silence as Atlanta players celebrated after the final whistle.
“Nothing but gratitude and apologies for not being able to achieve the objectives that we all had in mind,” Martino said when asked if he had a message for the Miami faithful. “Both them and us.”
