Inter Miami advances to U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 with 1-0 win over Charleston Battery

Inter Miami coach Phil Neville conceded that his team did not play particularly well against the Charleston Battery on Tuesday night. Winning 1-0 on an own goal by the lower-division opponent is not something to boast about and his team lacked the energy it showed in a win over Atlanta United a few nights earlier.

Nevertheless, with the win Miami advanced to the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 for the second year in a row and will play May 23 or May 24 against an opponent to be determined.

It was the fourth consecutive win for Inter Miami after a six-game losing streak. Neville hopes that momentum carries over to the Saturday league home game against Eastern Conference leader New England Revolution.

“We lack a bit of individual flair, but we’re making up for it with our determination,” Neville said. “The mentality of this group is that they have that bit between the teeth that’s making them hard to beat.”

Midfielder Victor Ulloa agreed.

“Not the prettiest of wins, but at the end of the day it’s a cup and the first rounds are like this,” Ulloa said. “You have to grind it out and get the win no matter what and we did that. We’re proud to move on to the next round and the momentum going forward to the game Saturday is huge.”

Neville said he could tell early on that his team was not in its best form.

Unlike Saturday, when a near-full DRV PNK Stadium was rocking for Miami’s 2-1 win over Atlanta, Tuesday’s game drew a much smaller crowd and players seemed less inspired.

“It wasn’t the biggest night, I felt in the warmup when you came out, with the 7 o’clock kickoff in the sunshine, it felt like a preseason scrimmage friendly type game,” Neville said. “It was difficult for the players in the first half to feel the tension they will feel Saturday against New England or last Saturday against Atlanta. They had to find that motivation from within.”

The men in pink missed on a few opportunities to score. The best chance came in the 75^th minute, when subs Benja Cremaschi and Shanyder Borgelin had a 2-on-1 directly in front of the goal. Cremaschi sent a low cross to Borgelin, who launched his close-range shot over the crossbar. Realizing he had just blown an easy chance, Borgelin bent over and buried his head in his hands.

With the cup game sandwiched between two MLS games this week, Neville went with mostly reserves in the starting lineup. Only four starters from Saturday’s game were on the field in the first half – Kamal Miller, David Ruiz, Nico Stefanelli, and Franco Negri, who will miss the New England game due to a red card suspension.

“Because we had a lot of changes it was going to be a little bit bitty, but I expected more quality, our standards to be higher than that,” Neville said. “We should have won 4-nil. You think about the chances we had. It would have made the game a lot easier, we could have rested more players in the second half.”

Forward Josef Martinez returned to the Miami starting lineup following his emotional breakthrough game against Atlanta. Martinez, who had not scored in a Miami shirt since joining the team this season, scored both goals in his first game against his former Atlanta teammates. He played for 56 minutes Tuesday before being replaced by Borgelin.

Martinez was clearly frustrated when he was taken off. He brushed past Neville and punched a few chairs on the bench. Neville said the plan was for Martinez to play just about 60 minutes to keep him fresh for Saturday.

“He was disappointed not the get a goal in the first half,” Neville said. “What I liked about him the most was his anger when he came off. He’s frustrated. I liked it. First time I’ve seen a bit of anger. We’ve been trying to poke him a little to get angry. I want him to get nasty, to get that fire. I saw some of that and that excites me about Saturday’s game against New England.”

Ulloa added: “Josef is a very competitive guy, maybe he doesn’t always show that side of him. People see he gets frustrated, gets mad and people judge that. He’s fierce. He wants the ball and wants to score every single time. He gets mad when we don’t give him chances. We didn’t give him any chances in the first half and then they took him off early, so he was upset. We just let him cool off and tomorrow he’ll be ready to go.”

Leo Campana and Drake Callender were among the key Miami starters who did not play. DeAndre Yedlin came off the bench in the 70^th minute. Rodolfo Pizarro (hamstring) and Sergiy Krystsov (calf) missed the game due to injury.

The own goal from Charleston’s Juan Palma came three minutes after halftime. Harvey Neville sent a cross into the area and when a Battery defender tried to clear it, the ball ricocheted off Palma’s face into the net.

Inter Miami returns to DRV PNK Stadium Saturday at 7:30 p.m. to play the Revolution. New England is tied with Cincinnati atop the standings with 24 points, a 7-1-3 record and has scored 18 goals. Miami is in 10^th place with 12 points, a 4-6-0 record and 10 goals.