This is the time of the year in sports where we begin to hit that slower period where the NBA Finals are complete, the NHL is close to crowning it’s champion while the NFL is getting ready to restart games in August.
During the dog days of summer, in South Florida, the Miami Marlins and Inter-Miami of the MLS are the primary entertainment on the sports scene.
Over Memorial Day Weekend, Inter-Miami took on a team that resides in a area predominantly known for rain, the Portland Timbers.
The irony of the contest on Saturday, May 28 at DRV PNK Stadium is their match vs the Timbers was delayed by 27 minutes and began at 8:27 PM because of rain.
The delay didn’t phase Inter-Miami as the team raced out to a 2-0 lead. The team came out of the gate blazing with energy and it showed.
During the course of the season, Inter-Miami is truly establishing a home field advantage at DRV PNK Stadium.
On May 22, Inter-Miami defeated the New York Red Bulls 2-0. The Red Bulls are No.5 in the Eastern Conference.
On May 18, Inter-Miami went on the road and battled to a 0-0 draw against the top team in the East, Philadelphia.
What made the win vs Portland significant was Inter-Miami gained three points going into the International Break.
Through 14 games, Inter-Miami has a 5-6-3 record with 18 points.
They’re currently in ninth place in the Eastern Conference.
The 2-1 win over Portland did give the team an opportunity to get some rest and momentum.
During the game vs Portland, Miami was outshot 16-15, but held the possession advantage 52.7%-47.3%.
They got goals from forward Leonardo Campana “Heineken Man Of The Match” who has now tallied eight for the season and midfielder Robert Taylor, who netted his second of the year.
But this was a game that Inter-Miami needed to win.
First of all, Portland is struggling in 2022 with a 3-6-6 mark and 15 points.
They are 12th in the Western Conference.
Good teams defeat squads that have comparable records.
A crowd of 11,161 fans saw the home team take care of business.
After the win, Coach Phil Neville and Campana talked about how important defeating Portland meant a lot to the team’s confidence, plus what they were going to do with the break as you’re going to see in the videos in this story.
When the game was over, Miami occupied the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference that would have made it playoff eligible.
Both individuals also talked about the team’s success at home.
Inter-Miami has won two straight and is unbeaten at DRV PNK Stadium across all competitions to six.
Inter-Miami is back in action on Sunday as they travel to Georgia and face Atlanta at 3 PM.
Once again, another game vs a comparable opponent.
Atlanta is currently 11th in the conference with a 4-5-4 mark with 16 points in 13 games.
On April 24, Miami defeated Atlanta 2-1 in Fort Lauderdale in a nationally televised game.
It’s time to repeat that performance and get back on track as the dog days of summer are upon us.
Scott Morganroth can be reached at southfloridatribune@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TribuneSouth.
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