Inter Miami Vs New York City FC: 3 things we learned – Miami crashes out
By Alex Windley
2. NYCFC get it done without Heber
Heber, who normally starts up top, for New York City FC, was a surprise omission from the teamsheet on Monday morning. Suffering a hamstring injury in practice, the Brazilian was replaced by 21-year-old Valentin Castellanos, who did a serviceable job.
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The Citizens standout players, though, were Romanian Alexandru Mitrita, who got the game-winning assist and goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who came up with two big saves that kept his team in the game.
NYCFC has a great roster filled with an abundance of talent that have not yet fulfilled, but with Heber absent, they started to make the most of their ability, here. The midfield duo of Alexander Ring and James Sands proved critical, circulating possession that saw the Citizens see a whopping 59% of the ball. The full-backs, Anton Tinnerholm and Ronald Matarrita, gave NYCFC balance in attack and stability when defending — Tinnerholm won nine defensive duels and largely contained Inter Miami DP, Matias Pellegrini.
New York City succeeded where Inter Miami couldn’t. Manager Ronny Deila saw that Miami’s backline was exposed and exploited that weakness by going directed which ended up with a goal for the boys in blue. They didn’t play beautiful football, but they got it done when it mattered the most to secure their first victory of the 2020 regular season.