FORT LAUDERDALE: Luis Suárez and Tadeo Allende scored second-half goals with a healthy Lionel Messi on the bench, and Inter Miami beat Jamaican club Cavalier FC 2-0 on Thursday night in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup group of 16 match.
Messi sat out his second straight game. He didn’t travel with Miami to Houston for a Major League Soccer match against the Dynamo on Sunday night, which Miami won 4-1.
“For us, we feel it when we don’t have Leo,” first-year Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said. “I think any team in the world that doesn’t have Leo will feel that.”
Allende retrieved a pass from Sergio Busquets and beat Cavalier goalkeeper Vino Barclet from 12 yards out in the 61st minute, with his shot landing inside the left post.
Suárez connected in the 83rd minute. He retrieved a ball deflected off Cavalier defender Shamar Watson’s foot and blasted a shot from 20 yards.
“We played with fire and when you play with fire, you are likely to get burned,” Mascherano said. “We didn’t play with the rhythm we planned for in the first half. There was no intensity. In the second half, we attacked much better and dictated the game.”
An apparent goal by Cavalier forward Shaquille Stein late in the first half was overturned because of an offside infraction after a video review that lasted seven minutes.
“Our fitness level dropped to start the second half, probably from the disappointment of not having the goal allowed,” Cavalier coach Rudolph Spied said.
The second leg will be on March 13 in Kingston, Jamaica.
Mascherano reiterated that Messi is not injured but has experienced some fatigue after playing three games in six days before the two-match absence. Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, participated in the two practices that preceded the match.
But he was not in the lineup that was announced an hour beforehand. Messi watched from a private box.
“Not having the best player is complicated but we have to take a step forward and learn to play without him,” Mascherano said.
Cavalier, which won the Jamaican Premier League title last season, advanced to this phase of the Champions Cup after winning the CONCACAF Caribbean Cup in December. The club remains scoreless in the Champions Cup after 2-0 and 4-0 losses against FC Cincinnati last year.
With Messi sitting out again, Suárez and Allende score to lead Inter Miami past Cavalier FC 2-0
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With Messi sitting out again, Suárez and Allende score to lead Inter Miami past Cavalier FC 2-0
- He didn’t travel with Miami to Houston for a Major League Soccer match against the Dynamo on Sunday night, which Miami won 4-1
- Inter Miami beat Jamaican club Cavalier FC 2-0 in the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup group of 16 match
Australia crush England by 8 wickets for 2-0 Ashes lead
- Australia are now overwhelming favorites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow
BRISBANE: Australia cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win over England in the day-night second Ashes Test in Brisbane on Sunday for an ominous 2-0 lead in the series.
Set a paltry target of 65 for victory, Australia captain Steve Smith pulled Gus Atkinson for a huge six over square leg to get the job done in style.
Although not as humiliating as the two-day loss in the first Test at Perth, England were comprehensively outplayed in every department.
Australia are now overwhelming favorites to retain the Ashes with matches in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to follow.
“Great day. First two days were pretty even, game turned when we were able to extend to get the new ball under lights, that was crucial for us,” said Smith, who clashed verbally with England bowler Jofra Archer as the hosts raced to victory.
“It can be tricky with the pink ball, it changes really quickly and you have to adapt.”
For England it was more misery. Their batting, apart from Joe Root and Zak Crawley in the first innings and captain Ben Stokes and Will Jacks in the second, was just as rash as in Perth.
They gave their wickets away with poor strokes on the bouncy Gabba surface.
They also bowled poorly, pitching too short and wasting the new pink ball, in stark contrast to an Australian attack missing spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
To make matters worse England dropped five catches in the first innings, whereas Australia’s fielders caught everything that came their way.
Josh Inglis’s brilliant run-out of Stokes in the first innings changed the course of the match. “Obviously very disappointing,” said Stokes.
“I think a lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format, when the game is on the line.”
England were behind the game once they let Australia’s tail help the home side post 511 on Saturday, an overall lead of 177.
They then lost six second-innings wickets under lights to end the third day 134-6, still 43 runs behind the Australian total.
While many expected England to surrender meekly on Sunday, Stokes and all-rounder Jacks led a fighting rearguard action to ensure Australia had to bat a second time.
Stokes and Jacks defied the Australian pace attack on a fiercely hot day to edge their way past the initial deficit target and begin to set Australia something to chase.
England batting coach Marcus Trescothick said Saturday his batsmen would not change their aggressive approach, despite a clatter of wickets from poor shots.
But Stokes and Jacks were patient during the first session Sunday. They left balls they didn’t need to play and seemed happy to take their runs in singles rather than expansive boundary shots.
They scored just 28 runs in the first hour and passed the 43-run deficit 96 minutes into the session, scoring only 59 runs in the two hours.
The Australian bowlers, who ran rampant under lights on Saturday with the pink ball, were far more ineffective on Sunday, despite the wicket beginning to play some tricks.
The English offered only one chance when Scott Boland squared up Stokes, who got a thick edge over the slips cordon.
They continued to frustrate the Australians in the second session until just before the drinks break Jacks got an edge to Michael Neser and Smith snared a breath-taking catch at slip, diving full length to his left and catching it low to the ground.
Neser struck again in the next over when Stokes nibbled at a ball outside the off-stump and got a fine edge to keeper Alex Carey to leave England 227-8, a lead of exactly 50.
