There’s only one thing on the minds of Inter Miami players ahead of the Club’s third and final match in the group stage of the MLS is Back Tournament: getting three points.
With a victory against New York City FC, the Club can keep its hopes of advancing to the knockout rounds of the tournament alive, but our players are taking it one step at a time, focusing on getting the long-awaited first MLS victory for Inter Miami first.
“We’re very optimistic. We know there’s still a possibility for us to move onto the next round and more importantly to get our first win, which is what we’ve been looking for,” said midfielder Victor Ulloa. “That’s the beauty of soccer, you always get another opportunity. We have one more game to try and get our first three points and we still have a chance to qualify, so it’s going to be a final for us on Monday morning.”
“We’re disappointed because we feel like we deserved more in the last two games, but our main focus right now is getting this win on Monday. That’s all we can control. Whatever happens after that, we’re hopeful that it’s enough but we’re focused on getting the first win for Inter Miami,” added fellow midfielder Lee Nguyen.
“This game is important for us for multiple reasons. One, we want to advance and go as far as we can in this tournament. Another is that this game counts towards our regular season as well. The other one is also that we want to get our first win for our fans.”
Although predicting a tough matchup, for Ulloa and Nguyen the key for the team will be to avoid past mistakes in order to overcome their upcoming rivals.
“It’s going to be a good game. It’s going to be hot for us, it’s going to be hot for them. It’s going to be 11 players against 11 players, so whoever wants it more and whoever is focused, concentrated and pays attention to the small details is going to take the game,” stated Ulloa.
“The past two or three games we’ve been so close, but it was little things that tilted the game the other way. Diego [Alonso] and the coaches have been helping us to focus on those little details and things we need to focus on during the game to tilt those little decisions in our favor,” highlighted Nguyen. “That’s the difference between winning and losing. We feel confident going into this game, hoping that we can turn the tide.”
