INTERludes: Jamaican club gives Inter Miami a champions cup scare; international duty for Messi | OneFootball

Cavalier FC outplays Inter Miami in 2-0 Champions Cup loss

Inter Miami is ranked third in Concacaf’s March club rankings; Cavalier FC, from Jamaica, is ranked 96th. But it didn’t look that way as the visitors outplayed the star-studded Herons’ side for 60 minutes in a 2-0 loss in the teams’ Concacaf Champions Cup match Thursday in Fort Lauderdale.

Cavalier FC packed six men in its penalty box and its hiccup-quick defenders disrupted the Herons, regularly swarming to the ball, anticipating passes and deploying its speedy wingers down both wings, creating numerous dangerous counter attacks in the first half. The Jamaican side appeared to take the lead in first-half stoppage time when Shaquille Stein booted the ball into the net after a well-designed set play. The goal was negated when the referee — after an almost 6-minute VAR review — ruled a Cavalier defender offside. The player was offside, by inches, but didn’t appear to touch the ball or screen the goalkeeper.

After the controversial decision — which probably was technically correct but seemed a case of the letter of the law rather than its spirit — the teams went to halftime in a scoreless tie.

Tadeo Allende finally scored for Miami in the 63rd minute after Luis Suarez, standing behind the end line, managed just barely to keep the ball in play. The Allende goal seemed to deflate Cavalier FC, who couldn’t maintain their energy in the second half. Suarez added a late goal to secure the victory.

Inter Miami played its second-straight match without Lionel Messi, who coach Javier Mascherano insists is not injured but being rested to avoid injury after feeling “muscle overload” in the Herons’ first-round Cup match against Sporting Kansas City.

Cavalier will host Inter Miami at 7 p.m. EST Thursday at Jamaica’s National Stadium in the deciding match of the home-and-away tie, which will be decided by aggregate score, with away goals as the first tie-breaker. The tie winner will face the LAFC-Columbus winner in the quarterfinals.