Inter Miami maintained their winning ways, securing a 5-3 win over FC Cincinnati on Wednesday night in front of a sell-out crowd at TQL Stadium.
The game in Cincinnati, Ohio featured the two highest-scoring teams in the Eastern Conference. It certainly delivered on the anticipation, with a hat trick for Lionel Messi—the third hat trick of his MLS career, bringing his total career goals to 910.
Match Summary
The Argentinian legend opened the scoring frenzy in the 24th minute. He charged the box and punished a mistake from Cincinnati center back Matt Miazga, blasting the ball past goalkeeper Roman Celentano.
Cincinnati star striker Kévin Denkey nailed in a penalty kick in the 41st minute, making it 1-1 at halftime.
The match became a dramatic back-and-forth battle in the second half. The hosts returned from the break firing to take a 2-1 lead, before Messi equalized eight minutes later.
Cincinnati's star player Evander sent the crowd into cheers with his upper-90 finish from outside the box in the 64th minute, giving the hosts a 3-2 lead.
Fans in blue and orange thought they would leave home happy, but Inter Miami added three more goals to prove them wrong. Germán Berterame scored off a wild collision between Cincinnati's goalkeeper and center back, and Messi's third goal came in the 89th minute.
Inter Miami Report Card vs. FC Cincinnati
GK: Dayne St. Clair—D- The Canadian impressively got a full palm on Kévin Denkey's penalty kick before it went in, but Cincinnati completely overpowered him in the second half.
RB: Ian Fray—B Back from injury, after missing the Toronto match at the weekend. Did well to get up the right flank and into the attack, allowing Messi to slide centrally into dangerous positions.
CB: Gonzalo Luján—C- Replacing Maxi Falcón once again in an effort to shore up the defensive outlook, he proved to be a much more stable, consistent option in the Herons' backline. However, he gave up the penalty kick after tugging on the jersey of star striker Denkey.
CB: Micael—C- The Brazilian center back struggled in his communication with Reguilón, with the duo often overwhelmed by the creativity of Denkey and Evander.
LB: Sergio Reguilón—D Made just his third start in league play this season after plagued with a series of knocks earlier in the season. Left Bucha unmarked on the back-post, leading to Cincinnati's second goal.
RM: Rodrigo De Paul—B The 31-year-old looked agile and explosive. He frequently got into the attack, despite his typical defensive positioning.
CM: Yannick Bright—C Continuing to take on a more central role in the 4-3-3 as De Paul shifts to the right. He looked overwhelmed by Evander's offensive prowess at times.
LM: Telasco Segovia—A Dynamic through the middle and everywhere on the pitch. He combined well with Bright and De Paul and made up for Suárez's lack of mobility on the left flank.
RW: Lionel Messi—A+ Third straight match with at least three goal contributions. Third hat trick of his MLS career.
ST: Germán Berterame—C The striker was largely ineffective in this match. Often forgotten he was even there, until he scored the equalizing goal.