The Columbus Crew hit a home run on the road Saturday against NYCFC. Coming from behind on the road in MLS is no easy feat, even when up a man. In addition to the positive result, the Crew’s performance was deserving of all three points as they were the better side for the vast majority of the match. The Crew will now quickly turn its attention to a Messi-less, Suarez-less Inter Miami who also won on the road last weekend. Miami is getting used to playing without their two attacking stars who have joined their respective countries for Copa America which kicks off on Thursday. Miami sits atop the Eastern Conference and the league but has played more games than anyone in MLS. The Crew will be looking to win their fifth straight road match and take a huge step in reintroducing themselves to the Supporters Shield race as the MLS regular season heats up.

Inter Miami at a glance:

League Form: W-D-L-W-W

Record: 11-5-3  (38 Points)

Leading Scorer: Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez (12 goals)

Assist Leader: Lionel Messi (9 assists)

Player to watch: Sergio Busquets

Just because Messi and Suarez aren’t playing doesn’t mean there won’t be legends of the game on the field for Miami on Wednesday. Busquets is just as deserving of all the plaudits and attention his attacking-minded teammates get. Busquets is the epitome of a “press-resistant” midfielder and is incredibly comfortable and skilled on the ball. Busquets can turn out of pressure with just a swivel of the hips or drop of the shoulder, sending the defender chasing shadows while hardly moving himself on the ball. Busquets is also an exquisite passer of the ball and has the ability to play just about any pass you can imagine. While he is incredibly accurate as a passer, he is also deadly on the attack, creating 18 chances this season from his passing. While he is comfortably the wrong side of 30, he still has the ability to dictate a match when given the freedom to by his opponents. The Crew will need to keep Busquets from receiving the ball on Wednesday and make him play backward when he does get possession of the ball. 

How Inter Miami Play:

Tata Martino is in his first full year in charge in Miami after being hired to replace Phil Neville last summer. The former MLS Cup champion has quickly put his stamp on this team tactically. While he has certainly been aided by the amount of world class players on his roster, he has still been able to shape this team into his preferred style very quickly. 

Martino and Miami love to have possession of the ball. In fact, Miami is tied for second in possession percentage (with Houston) behind the Crew this season. Almost exclusively using a 4-3-3 shape in possession, Miami will often make seemingly easy and pointless-looking passes when in possession. However, similar to the Crew under Wilfried Nancy, these passes are used to draw their opponents out of their defensive shape and create gaps for the attack to exploit. Miami will usually move their outside backs high up the field and their wingers into central areas when in possession. The wingers will look to combine with the other central midfielders when possible, as well as run in behind the opposing backline when the opportunity presents itself. Miami loves to switch the point of attack to create and exploit 1v1 matchups in wide areas as well. 

Defensively, there are two different Miami sides. When Messi and Suarez play, Miami is generally pretty happy to defend closer to their goal as Messi and Suarez aren’t exactly known for their defensive work rate. However, without this dynamic duo, Miami is happy to press much higher up the field in a 4-2-3-1 shape. This press is usually triggered by the central striker whose aim is to keep the ball on one side by applying pressure. The three players behind him look to move from side to side to prevent the ball from being played forward into the midfield. The back four and two defensive midfielders generally stay “home”’ while the front four players apply pressure. On occasion, the outside backs will step up and apply pressure as well when the ball is on their side. This may happen often against the Crew due to the Crew’s use of wingbacks. 

How the Crew can win:

The Crew can move closer to the top of the table and get back into the thick of things in the Supporters Shield race with a win Wednesday. On top of that, they can win their fifth road match in a row, which is relatively unheard of in MLS. Here’s what Wilfried Nancy’s men need to focus on in order to bring three points back from the 305. 

1. Dominate Possession: The Crew are the best team in the league at retaining possession. Miami is as close to the top as the Crew have seen this year in MLS play. The Crew needs to keep possession in order to control the flow and tempo of the game. In addition, Miami will be uncomfortable when forced to defend for long stretches of time, which could lead to mistakes and mental lapses that would allow the Crew to pounce. 
2. Use the Numerical Advantage: More than likely, the Crew will have a numerical advantage when building out of the back, since Miami usually only commits four players to their press. Thus, if the Crew can find the free man in the buildup, they’ll be able to quickly and easily break through Miami’s pressure and move play into their attacking half. 
3. Counter-press Effectively: Miami will look to maintain possession when they win it back from Columbus on Wednesday night. If the Crew can quickly react and try and win the ball back seconds after they lose it, they will likely be able to win the ball back as Miami looks to connect passes to buy time to get into their attacking shape. With the attacking being disorganized and the players switched off from their defensive responsibilities, counter-pressing presents an important moment where the Crew could win the ball back easily, and be dangerous when they do so.