New York Red Bulls didn’t let a little rain get in their way of thrashing Inter Miami 4-0 at Red Bull Arena thanks in part to a Lewis Morgan hat trick.
Both teams rocked up to Red Bull Arena missing key players, as the hosts were without the likes of Emil Forsberg and Elias Manoel while the Herons were forced to make do without superstar Lionel Messi and Diego Gomez.
Red Bulls opened the scoring inside three minutes, with backup Miami goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos unable to keep out Morgan’s well-placed strike into the far bottom corner. New York carved out the visitors with a few quick passes before Dante Vanzeir played Morgan through with a clever flick with the outside of his foot.
Morgan found his second of the game just after the restart, and it was a similar sequence to the Scotland international’s first strike. Vanzeir held the ball up brilliantly once again before guiding it into Morgan’s path just inside the penalty area, and the 27-year-old put the hosts 2-0 up with a calm finish past Dos Santos.
Things went from bad to worse for the Herons as the clock ticked on in the second half. Morgan kept the ball in play on the touchline before sprinting at the Miami defense to set up Wikelman Carmona to make it 3-0 to the hosts after the ball bounced around in Miami’s penalty area.
Vanzeir added his third assist of the afternoon after squaring Morgan through on goal, and the winger made no mistake with a cool finish that rolled into the back of the net to record his fifth goal of the campaign. Vanzier took on the playmaking role in Forsberg’s absence with four assists, while Morgan bagged a traditional hat trick against his former club to seal the three points for New York.
GK: CJ Dos Santos – 4/10 – A game to forget for the backup shot-stopper who wasn’t helped by his defense.
CB: Tomas Aviles – 4/10 – Rebounded after his early blunder but still struggled to keep up with Red Bulls’ deadly duo.
CB: Serhiy Kryvstov – 5/10 – Got better as the game wore on but it wasn’t enough to help prevent his defense from leaking in goals.
CB: Noah Allen – 4/10 – It was evident that he was playing in an unnatural role as he was dragged out of position on multiple occasions by Morgan and Vanzeir.
RM: Robert Taylor – 4.5/10 – Sloppy in possession and didn’t offer much going forward.
CM: Julian Gressel – 6/10 – Was probably the only Miami player trying to make anything happen, but he couldn’t do it on his own.
CM: Sergio Busquets – 6.5/10 – Perhaps the only Miami player who can leave Red Bull Arena with their head held high.
CM: Lawson Sunderland – 4/10 – Was a bystander in the middle of the park and couldn’t keep up with the pace of the Red Bulls’ midfielders.
LM: Jordi Alba – 5/10 – Got into favorable positions but didn’t make the most of his chances.
ST: Leo Campana – 5.5/10 – Started off well but faded late in the first half and was nonexistent in the second 45.
ST: Luis Suarez – 5/10 – Should’ve finished off at least one of the half-chances he was presented with in the first half that could’ve changed the course of the game.
SUB: Yannick Bright (59′ for Sunderland) – 6/10 – Didn’t bring any impact to the contest.
SUB: Leo Alfonso (59′ for Taylor) – 6/10 – The player neither helped nor hindered his side.
SUB: Ryan Sailor (75′ for Aviles) – N/A
SUB: Jose de Abadal (75′ for Gressel) – N/A
Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino – 4.5/10 – Not much different he could’ve done in terms of player selection due to the circumstances, but his side struggled to string together passes while New York had no problems in the same playing conditions.
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