Lionel Messi scored twice and created another for Sergio Busquets as Inter Miami beat Nashville 3-1 on Saturday to maintain top spot in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference. Miami suffered an early setback when their defender Franco Negri deflected a corner from Daniel Lovitz into his own net in just the second minute of the…
Gerardo Martino’s team have now failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last 11 games and it could have been worse when three minutes later Josh Bauer blasted a shot against the bar. Six minutes before the interval, Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate Busquets found the net for the first time in MLS, meeting the World Cup winner’s corner with a fine glancing header at the near post.
Nine minutes from the end, Miami were able to put the game to bed when Afonso was ruled to have been brought down inside the box by Bauer and Messi slotted home the penalty.Martino was unhappy with the way his team had started so slowly. “All this happens to us and we have still collected 18 points, which is significantly more than last year at this stage, we will be looking to accumulate points now so that the second part of the year is not as demanding and dramatic as last year,” he said, referring to the ill-fated late chase for a playoff place.
The lead lasted just three minutes as reigning MLS Most Valuable Player Luciano Acosta led Cincy on a counter-attack and fed compatriot Luca Orellano to level. The Nigeria Football Federation has said that it would unveil a new coach for the Super Eagles early next week. The Super Eagles have been without a coach since Portuguese, Jose Peseiro, left the job after leading the team to second position