“I’m not even thinking about the Club World Cup”

Inter Miami’s attempt at adding an international title to their collection has ended in disappointment, as they crashed out of the Concacaf Champions Cup semi-finals. They were forced to exit at home after a 3-1 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps (April 30, EST), ending 5-1 in aggregate.

This is the third loss in a row for the Herons in all competitions, the first of its kind since Lionel Messi joined in July 2023. Nine goals were scored against the club in this period, which is indicative of defensive weaknesses that Javier Mascherano has to address.

The head coach spoke to the press after their exit, admitting that getting knocked out hurt. However, he insisted that the focus remained on the MLS (via GOAL):

“We have to keep going and focus on MLS. I’m not even thinking about the Club World Cup. We’ve been competing in two tournaments, we’ve done it well, and we reached the semifinals—something the club had never done before.

“But it hurts because we wanted to reach the final. That would have placed the club in a very important position. Still, we have to accept that they were better—they beat us in key moments, in individual duels—and at this stage, those things matter a lot.”

Mascherano continued, analyzing Inter Miami’s game and what led to the loss:

“We have to break it down into two parts. In the first half, I think we played the game we wanted—we managed to score early and had other chances to get a second goal. They had chances too, because we had to take risks. What we didn’t expect was that in just two to three minutes, they would decide the series with two goals, right when we needed to stay calm.

“What we were aiming for ended up being the opposite. The hardest part was scoring a goal, and we did that—but that’s football, especially in the semifinals. One mistake and the opponent punishes you and takes the series. The match was pretty clear.”

He slammed his team for making costly mistakes, adding:

“We competed—even though the aggregate was 5-1, in Vancouver, they scored the second goal with five minutes left, and at that point the game was under our control. Today, after our goal, we had more chances to go 2-0 up, but goals have to be scored, and talking about it now doesn’t change anything.

“In these knockout stages, mistakes are extremely costly—especially against a high-level team that won’t forgive you. You can’t afford that, especially not at the start of the second half. We lost focus against Dallas, and it’s happened to us again now.”

Inter Miami will play host to the New York Red Bulls on May 3 (EST), where they will look to rise up the Eastern Conference table.

Whitecaps stun Inter Miami 3-1 to reach Champions Cup final

The Vancouver Whitecaps delivered a superb performance to knock Inter Miami out of the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup. The Herons began on the front foot at Chase Stadium with Jordi Alba netting in the ninth minute after a well-crafted move involving Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez.

Vancouver retaliated in earnest in the second half. Brian White equalized in the 51st minute after a setup by Sebastian Berhalter. In another two minutes (53′), Pedro Vite scored from another assist by Berhalter.

Finally, Berhalter capped his phenomenal performance with a 71st-minute goal and sealed the victory for the Whitecaps. Inter Miami were unable to mount a comeback from the 2-0 deficit from the first leg.