2 March 2025: The 20,810 in attendance at Shell Energy Stadium may have been disappointed not to see Lionel Messi in the Inter Miami squad, but they were treated to a breathtaking finish which unfortunately resulted in disappointment for the home side.
The visitors took control from the opening kickoff, dominating the first five minutes while the Dynamo sputtered. But Houston grew into the game, McGlynn (five shots on target) going over the bar once and having another shot stopped by the chest of Ustari, and they were having the better of the positional battle as the half neared its midway point when Inter Miami struck against the run of play. Gonzalo Luján found Jordi Alba in a crease at the left edge of the Houston penalty area, and the Miami wingback cut sharply to his right and rolled a shot just past the fingertips of Tarbell and into the far corner of the net to put the visitors in front. Miami seemed as if it would seize control from there, as they began to string together passes and possession, but they somehow lost track of Ezequiel Ponce as Erik Sviatchenko’s through ball sent him clear ten minutes later and the calm finish levelled the game at one goal each. It was a fairly ill-tempered first half with six yellow cards shown, three to each side, and it was hoped that cooler heads would prevail in the second half as the teams went to the dressing room.
In fact, things did quiet down after the break; in fact, they nearly came to a halt. Neither side could establish a rhythm, shots were few and far between, and it looked as if everyone involved was happy to settle for a full-time draw. But late substitute Gabe Segal flashed into the Inter Miami box in the 88th minute and was bumped to the turf by Sergio Busquets. After a long video review, referee Joe Dickerson pointed to the dot and, to the cheers of the crowd, Segal made no mistake with the spot kick and Houston held the lead with just minutes to play. The Dynamo were doing well at keeping the ball away from Miami when disaster struck - Tadeo Allende intercepted a lazy pass in the Dynamo defensive third and ran past his defender to whack the ball off of Tarbell’s right glove and into the net in the final minute of regulation time, and the match was tied once again. Six minutes of stoppage time failed to provide any more drama (or goals) and Houston left the field feeling as if they had let a chance slip through their fingers to defeat one of the League favorites, having used the chance to not have to focus attention on Messi to both out-possess and outshot Miami but, in the end, not to outscore them. FINAL: Houston Dynamo 2, Inter Miami 2.
Contribution to the Facebook co-op replay . . .
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| Tadeo Allende rescues Inter Miami in the 90th minute |
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