BY SCOTT MORGANROTH
It was great returning the DRV-PNK Stadium Saturday Night as Inter-Miami took on one of MLS’s newest franchises, Charlotte FC.
I will admit that I’m superstitious and until Inter-Miami loses a match, I would continue to wear my lucky navy blue long sleeve shirt, which I have worn five times and the team has never lost.
Some of my colleagues were glad to see me and one of them mentioned that I’m glad you wore the shirt.
During Saturday Night Games that we’ve attended, it ceases to amaze me that a few matches have been delayed as a result of rain and lightning in the area.
Saturday proved to be no exception as the match was supposed to start at 8 PM but began at 9:22 PM. Thankfully, I was prepared and was able to get other work done because I was so busy during the daytime working on Social Media and preparing for an upcoming trip to Cooperstown, NY.
The good news about these delays is that every time one of these happens, I get good sound bites from either Inter-Miami Coach Phil Neville, or one of the players.
In Saturday’s case, Heineken Man of the Match Gonzalo Higuain, was on the receiving end of the question, answered in Spanish and Director of Communications Director Rafael Cabrera translated the answer which you’re going to be able to watch in this story.
These teams met for the first time on May 7 in Charlotte and the team that plays in the Queen City earned a 1-0 triumph.
After the rain delay, it took all of 26 seconds for Charlotte to score its first goal and the visitors took a 1-0 lead. Quite the wake-up call for the home team which also lost a home tilt to the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday, July 13, 2-1.
Inter-Miami dominated the rest of the first half as the hosts entered halftime with a 58% share of the possession and outshot the visitors 9-3. But Charlotte scored a late first half goal to take a 2-0 lead.
Would my long sleeve navy blue shirt stay undefeated?
During the post-game press conference, Neville told us what he said to his team during halftime and answered my question about facing en expansion team. I asked him where his program compares to Charlotte.
Check out the video in this story to see what he has to say.
Inter-Miami rebounded in the second half and took their coaches speech to heart by scoring three unanswered goals including the game winner late in the match.
Robert Taylor, Higuain and Emerson Rodriguez scored the goals.
Higuain scored the tying goal and it was his second in as many matches and fourth of the season.
A crowd of 12,274 braved the elements and watched Inter-Miami dominate time of possession 59%-41% and also outshot Charlotte 15-4.
Neville gleamed about this during my question.
I encourage you to watch these videos to get the full impact of what occurred on Saturday Night.
Inter-Miami improved its record to 7-9-4 and amassed three points for the triumph to increase to 25.
Meanwhile, Charlotte saw its record drop to 8-11-2 and stayed at 26 points.
Inter-Miami returned to action on Tuesday Night in a friendly to FC Barcelona. They were winners at the gate as a sellout crowd of over 18,000 watched Barcelona win 6-0.
Inter-Miami returns to MLS play on Saturday Night as it hits the road to face New York City FC at 7 PM in the Big Apple.
They’ll return home on Saturday, July 30 to face FC Cincinnati at 8 PM, and you guessed it, I’ll be wearing my navy blue long sleeve shirt.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com and you can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.
Also, there is no cost to Subscribe to the South Florida Tribune You Tube Channel where you’ll see all of his shows and videos with Inter-Miami. There are more entertaining shows in the pipeline.
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