Heron Talk presented by Gallagher
Inter Miami is hitting the road for game one of four consecutive away games, beginning against Atlanta United FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. ET
Head coach Phil Neville highlighted the importance of the trip as the team will be entering the final stretch of the regular season.
“You know there are going to be many twists and turns to go and it’s about the team that stays with it, it’s about the team that doesn’t panic, it’s about the team that grinds out results at this time of the season,” said Neville.
Neville also pointed out that the team has been working on strengthening its mentality since the loss to Nashville to pull out the fighting spirit in a time where every game counts.
“[We need] our mentality to fight, our mentality to stay in games, our mentality to maintain our discipline, our mentality to face a little bit adversity and overcome that adversity, and I’m hoping for a reaction on Wednesday night against a talented team in Atlanta and I expect us to go there and I expect us to put on a performance.”
With there only being three home games left, Neville spoke about the readiness of the squad and the urgency to come away with a victory on the road.
“Ultimately we’re preparing for another away game, we’ve got more away games than home games left in the season.
“Winning our home games won’t be enough anymore. And we’re going to have to put in a real top performance, a performance better than the previous two to get any kind of result in Atlanta,” said Neville.
He also highlighted the excitement that playing in an atmosphere like Atlanta poses.
“I think it’s a game where we should be really excited. It’s a game where if you want to be a footballer, you want to be playing on nights like this in the stadium like the Atlanta one against a team with the players that Atlanta has,” said Neville.
Rodolfo Pizarro went on to preview the midweek match with anticipation as he highlighted the need to correct mistakes that were made in the previous games.
“We’ve had many great games against them [Atlanta United], it’s a game we always look forward to and we are preparing to fix mistakes that we’ve committed recently, and to go back into the form that we had.”
Pizarro reiterated Neville’s point about the importance of winning on the road to carry the momentum throughout the remainder of the regular season.
“If we win, we go up in position and emotionally the whole team is conscious of that. We want to make the best of playing a direct rival and trying to get into the playoffs,” concluded Pizarro.
