New coach, but same result for Inter Miami in a 2-1 loss to D.C. United

Inter Miami made a change at head coach last week, but its woes this season continued Saturday night with a narrow home defeat and two injuries.

Inter Miami suffered a fifth straight loss in league play, 2-1 to D.C. United, in an unusual match at DRV PNK Stadium.

Miami played with a man disadvantage after the first seven minutes following a red card to Kamal Miller, and the visitors eventually capitalized with second-half goals by Donovan Pines and Christian Benteke.

Making matters worse for Miami — which was playing its first game under interim coach Javier Morales — it lost midfielder Dixon Arroyo and centerback Ryan Sailor to second-half injuries.

The loss left Inter Miami in last place in the Eastern Conference at 5-0-11. The team is six points shy of the final playoff spot.

“We spoke to the players on the first day about how we wanted to change the culture of the team, and one of our values is to not offer up excuses,” Morales said in Spanish. “… I would say I leave the stadium tonight very happy because if you told me I had to pick a game to make my coaching debut in, I would pick this one.

“I would pick this one because I felt represented by the players. The players left it all out there tonight. We played with one less player for almost 90 minutes, and they left it all out there. They threw themselves around, the captain and everyone, and I am very proud of how they competed.”

Playing two days after firing coach Phil Neville, Inter Miami was reduced to 10 men after Miller was sent off for an early foul on Benteke. Head referee Marcos de Oliveira initially issued a yellow card for the last-ditch tackle, but quickly changed the call to a red card after going to VAR and finding that the foul denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

It took D.C. United (6-5-6) a while to score on inspired goalkeeper Drake Callender, who made four saves, but Wayne Rooney’s men found the breakthrough in the 76^th minute when Pines scored over a challenging Callender’s leg.

“It is probably the first time I have conceded a goal like that. It was a bit weird,” Callender said. “The ball was up against my leg and the post, and I felt one of their players slide into me. I think it is just one of those moments you have to kind of just move on from.”

Benteke doubled the lead in the 90^th with a slow roller that came on a 1-on-1 look after an Inter Miami turnover at midfield. Inter Miami pulled one back two minutes later off a rifled finish from outside the penalty area by Coconut Creek native Ian Fray.

The stoppage-time goal was the first of Fray’s professional career.

Earlier in the second half, Inter Miami lost Arroyo and Sailor to injuries. Arroyo exited in the 50^th minute and Sailor hobbled off five minutes later with the help of a pair of trainers.

Sailor, whose removal marked Inter Miami’s fifth and final sub early in the second half, had previously entered the game as a substitute for Nicolas Stefanelli following Miller’s expulsion.

“We do not have any update about the injuries,” Morales said. “Probably it is going to take a little bit more time to see what happened.”

Morales made one change to the starting lineup that lost to the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, starting Stefanelli and dropping Leo Campana, but deployed the team in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

The Argentine manager was forced to change the system and tactics minutes into the game due to the red card, and moved his players into a 5-3-1 look.

Inter Miami resiliently scrapped and clawed for the rest of the first half against D.C. United, which was held to just one shot on target before halftime.

“I do not think we let up at all,” Callender said. “I think we might have given more knowing that we went down a man and that we had to go inside and demand more of ourselves as individuals (and) also as a team.

“I think that was a pretty strong collective effort from the group. Of course, it is not the result that we wanted, but I think the energy that we were able to conjure up as a team was important tonight.”

One player who was not in uniform Saturday was Harvey Neville, the son of the manager dismissed last week. The younger Neville’s absence Saturday came after he was booed with every touch as a late substitute against. the Red Bulls, and was explained as a coach’s decision.

Inter Miami will continue its stretch of 14 matches in 49 days on Wednesday, visiting Birmingham Legion in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup.