After winning the Supporters' Shield and setting a new record for the most points in a season, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami are out of the MLS Cup playoffs in the first round following a 3-2 loss to Atlanta United on Saturday. With that loss, the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference have all been knocked out as parity is alive and well in Major League Soccer.
Early on, the Herons may have thought that it would be smooth sailing when Matias Rojas opened the scoring in the 17th minute but that lead would only last for two minutes. Atlanta United striker Jamal Thiare scored a quickfire brace in the first half to give the Five Stripes the lead going into halftime. Brad Guzan's saves were critical, but interim manager Rob Valentino's team has had Miami's number all season.
In now five meetings with the Herons between the regular season and playoffs, Atlanta United have won three matches, drawn one and only lost once. Messi did everything he could to bring Miami back into the game, scoring a collector's item of a goal with his head but it wouldn't be enough.
When a player went down due to injury in the box, Inter Miami petitioned for the match to be stopped but Atlanta United kept moving forward for Bartosz Slisz to score the go-ahead header in the 76th minute. Assisted by Pedro Amador, who now has an assist in every match of the playoffs so far for Atlanta United, it was quite a way for Miami to go out.
When the injury happened, Rojas was pointing and stopped running while Atlanta United kept pushing for the lead. Amador delivered an excellent cross that Slisz scored for only his second-ever MLS goal. Things like that show the style that Valentino was able to instill in this Atlanta side while also displaying that Miami has work to do.
With stars who have been there and done that such as Messi, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, and Jordi Alba, losing due to not playing to the whistle is quite a way to fall. It will now be a long offseason ahead for Tata Martino and the squad as despite winning the Supporters' Sheild for the second-ever trophy in club history, the Herons failed to win any knockout competition that they were involved in this season.
From selling Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis to firing head coach Gonzalo Pineda and needing help to make the playoffs, the Five Stripes weren't supposed to be in this series against Inter Miami but they not only made it but they were able to hold their own. Busquets being unavailable for the second game and only being fit enough to come off the bench in this one hurt the defensive shape for Miami, and while the attackers performed well, Guzan was there to stop everything that came his way.
Guzan made seven saves in the match including one at point-blank range to preserve the victory as the clock winded down. At 40, he's still able to turn in top-drawer performances and Atlanta will need more of those as they're now set to travel to Orlando City to continue their run in the playoffs.