The Five Stripes produced a huge performance for their under-fire head coach on Wednesday night, snapping a nine-game winless skid with their first road victory in 2024 regular-season play – against MLS-leading Inter Miami CF, of all opponents, an emphatic 3-1 W paced by two gorgeous long-distance blasts from Saba Lobjanidze.
“We are on the same page. So it’s so big for us and the staff,” the Georgian international told reporters, after confirming his celebration of his first goal did indeed mean that his partner is pregnant with a baby girl. “We were struggling. The staff, my teammates, players – everyone was struggling the last few games, you know. So if we are winning, we are winning together. If we are losing, we’re losing together. So I said so many times, we just need one game like that and after, the confidence and mentality will be back for sure.”
Most strikingly, there was little in the way of bunkering or reactivity from ATL. The visitors bossed the expected-goals category to the tune of 3.4-0.7 and could’ve scored even more, with Miami looking slow and rickety defensively, particularly in transition.
“Understanding that Messi and Suárez were going to be on top, I wanted to have always a 3-v-2 against them,” explained Pineda. “Because I wanted to be protected in the middle of the field in transition moments, or when they were on the ball. We just clogged the middle, we didn’t allow Messi, Suárez to have a lot of freedom there. But I think the players did well, both out of possession, in possession, but also in transition.
“We said, their center backs are good and especially long balls and all that, but the ones that are going to hurt you are Busquets, Messi in the pockets … Dax and Tristan were outstanding in terms of communicating, passing lanes and blocking their passes.”
Said Lobjanidze of the tactical adjustment: “It was perfect for this game.”
