Nashville SC can't solve Inter Miami, which didn't have Lionel Messi

With or without Lionel Messi, Inter Miami has an amount of talent few MLS teams can match. Saturday was Nashville SC’s turn to find that out.

Goals from Ian Fray and Jordi Alba broke open a tight game to give Inter Miami the lead just before halftime. The Herons wouldn’t relinquish that lead, holding on for a 2-1 win at Geodis Park and season sweep of Nashville (6-6-8, 26 points).

Hany Mukhtar pulled one back for Nashville by scoring a 73rd-minute penalty. But it wasn’t enough to knock off first-place Miami (13-3-5, 44 points), even as it was without big names like Messi and striker Luis Suárez, who are playing with Argentina and Uruguay, respectively, at the Copa América.

“It sucks to lose that way, off of two set pieces to a team that scores a lot of goals on the run of play,” Nashville interim coach Rumba Munthali said. “I thought we should have done better on that. I thought we should have done better with execution of the scoring chances we had in the first half. But (Inter Miami is) a really good team, and I thought in the second half we showed some fight, some resolve.”

Nashville went into Saturday on a three-match unbeaten streak and its first winning streak since May 2023, having lost only one of its seven games under Munthali. It will look to bounce back Wednesday on the road against the defending MLS champion Columbus Crew.

Inter Miami dominates on set pieces

Munthali went with the same formation he employed in last weekend’s win over New York City FC, a 4-2-3-1 with Sam Surridge on the left wing, Teal Bunbury at striker and Mukhtar as an attacking midfielder. Nashville began the game with an attacking mentality and had more than 60% possession in the game’s first 10 minutes.

But Miami began to wrest momentum away with a series of dangerous corner kicks. Joe Willis dove to parry a header by Diego Gomez in the 40th minute, knocking the ball out for another corner, but had no chance to stop Fray’s uncontested header off the ensuing set piece.

The Herons won another corner kick four minutes later, and the ball bounced to an open Alba. The former Spain international took advantage, bringing the ball in before firing a left-footed volley from the edge of the box.

“The first (goal) was a miscommunication,” Munthali said. “The second one, the ball pops out, Jordi Alba hits a great shot. In football sometimes, you’d rather get beat by a really good goal. The first one was a mistake on our part.”

REPORT CARD:Nashville SC midseason grades: Here’s what got the highest marks and what got dinged

Nashville’s rally falls short

Forster Ajago provided a lift when he subbed in for Bunbury in the 67th minute. The undrafted rookie striker contributed to a slew of opportunities in his limited time on the field, using his physicality well en route to a pair of shots and three corners earned.

Tyler Boyd drew a foul in the penalty box after one of the corners earned by Ajago. Drake Callender guessed right on the penalty, but Mukhtar’s shot had too much power and cut the deficit in half with just over 20 minutes to play.

However, Nashville didn’t quite have enough to complete the comeback. Ajago nearly made Inter Miami pay for a poor clearance in stoppage time, but Callender saved his shot from close range.

“Overall, second half, we were all over them,” midfielder Amar Sejdić said. “Trying to create chances, possessing the ball, connecting small passes and just trying to be on the front foot. We just ultimately couldn’t find a finishing product.”