Inter Miami to face motivated FC Cincinnati on the road Sunday in TQL Stadium debut
Inter Miami is hungry for a victory after a poor mid-week performance against Eastern Conference leader Montreal, and Sunday’s road game at FC Cincinnati presents a few big challenges.
Miami will be playing its third game in eight days while last-place Cincinnati has been off for two weeks.
Also, the 4 p.m. game (Fox Sports) will serve as the grand opening of TQL Stadium, a 26,000-seat facility that boasts a league-high 53 luxury suites.
Although the crowd will be limited to 6,000 per COVID restrictions, it will be the first time in 14 months Cincinnati plays in front of home fans, and the team is extra motivated coming off a pair of shutout losses – 5-0 to New York City FC and 3-0 to Orlando.
Inter Miami coach Phil Neville and goalkeeper John McCarthy said they will be ready for the occasion.
“It’s an awesome opportunity,” McCarthy said. “The fans are going to be great, the environment will be something special to be a part of, whether it’s a home game or away game, I think that’s a cool thing to open a brand new stadium that’s going to be in this league for a very long time.
“As for Cincinnati as a team, I don’t care if the team’s in first place, last place, middle of the table, you’ve got to go and get the job done.”
Neville said: “We have to play the game and not the occasion. It’s their home stadium, they need to bounce back and have had 15 days off, so they’ll be fresh and excited. We have to focus on ourselves, and not get involved in the razzmatazz. We hope they’re distracted by that and not inspired.”
Miami will be missing Robbie Robinson, Nico Figal and Kelvin Leerdam, all dealing with hamstring issues. Neville said he also plans to rest a few players who arrived at preseason camp late.
“We’re going to maybe take them out of the action for a little bit and give them two to three weeks hard work because we’re asking players to play 90 minutes at an intense level when we haven’t given them the proper foundations because we probably rushed them into games,” Neville explained.
“It was through a necessity, but I’m a coach that likes to look after the players and make sure they’re in the best possible shape. It might mean that we have a bumpy ride in terms of the squads and lack of numbers on the bench, but in the long term, the team and individuals will benefit.”
On a positive note, forward Julian Carranza will be back from a bout with vertigo. Neville said the young Argentine had a “fantastic” training session on Friday.
Although the 2-0 loss to Montreal was “massively disappointing”, Neville said there will be no mass changes in the lineup.
“We’ve not got the players to change and there’s no need to,” he said. “There’s not going to be a knee-jerk reaction. I’m really pleased with every player. There’s going to be freshness, but it’s the third game in the week, nothing you wouldn’t do normally.”
