Robert Lewandowski steal the limelight Lionel Messi with a brilliant goal and a verbal shotgun with Rodrigo De Paul as a Chicago Fire achieved a 1-1 draw with Inter Miami.
A crowd of more than 63,000 at Soldier Field were treated to a jittery encounter lit up initially by Lewandowski’s brilliant volley that put the home side ahead after nine minutes. The Pole found space at the far post and acrobatically fired into the left corner, although credit must also go to Andrew Gutman for a superb cross from the left.
Miami responded well and Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady made three fine saves, the best of which saw him go down to deny German Berterame in the 16th minute.
Brady started the second half in similar fashion, keeping out a Messi effort, while former Miami defender Noah Allen also distinguished himself with a goal-scoring tackle. But the home side couldn’t deny Messi’s subsequent corner with Casemiro heading home.
De Paul makes fun of Lewandowski but ends up looking silly
The two teams traded chances before exchanging insults.
The spark was a Lewandowski push on Fire defender Ian Fray. Fray responded with a push of his own and got other players involved, including De Paul, who shouted in Lewandowski’s face: “Who are you, dummy? I’ve won two Copa Americas and a World Cup. You?”
The actions of De Paul, who was a key part of Argentina’s woeful performance during the World Cup, diffused the situation and players from both sides found his intervention comical.
The The tie saw Miami cut its deficit on Eastern Conference leaders Nashvillewho lost to Toronto FC earlier in the day, by nine points. Chicago is a further five points behind after its fourth consecutive draw.
“We still have work to do, and you can see that,” Chicago Fire director of soccer and head coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We’ve got to get better because we weren’t in a position to dictate the game for long enough. We’re hanging out and we don’t want to be in that position. They’ve got a good team. I don’t want to take anything away from their team, but we can do a better job.”
Hoyos believes Miami deserved the win
Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos, who continues to fill in for Kily Gonzalez while he awaits his work visa, hinted that his team deserved more from the game.
“I don’t think there was any problem (with the attack). For me, their goalkeeper was the most outstanding player of the game,” he said.
“The goalkeeper is part of the game, after all. We created chances from different areas, but the goalkeeper did his part well. The boys did very well, excellent, I would say, we missed the result we deserved.”
Miami plays in Nashville on the weekend while the Fire take on the New England Revolution.
