Red Bulls Stomp The Herons In NY, Lewis Morgan Bags A Hat-Trick

Red Bull Arena – A Saturday afternoon running of the Bulls saw Inter Miami stomped in NY with former Heron Lewis Morgan scoring a hat-trick and Wikelman Carmona scoring once. The Herons could never get in the game, suffering a disappointing loss on the road.

Starting XI

Tata Martino returned to the 5-3-2 formation against the Red Bulls, with Luis Suarez and Leonardo Campana teaming up in the front of the attack. Lawson Sunderland, Sergio Busquets, and Julian Gressel manned the midfield. The backline consisted of Jordi Alba, Noah Allen, Sergeii Kryvtsov, Tomas Aviles, and Robert Taylor.

5-3-2 to start the match for #InterMiamiCF

Suarez & Campana 🔔 lead the charge

Taylor & Alba the wingbacks

Busquets & Gressel lead the midfield

Allen, Kryvtsov, Avilés are the center backs

Solid squad that shows Miami’s depth#InterMiamiCF #MLS pic.twitter.com/PzMcjsUQnL

— Xavier Guerrero (@XGLAVOZ) March 23, 2024

Wet & Wild

Lewis Morgan was red-hot from the match’s start despite NY’s cold and rainy conditions. Morgan put NY in the lead just 3 minutes into the match with a right-footed crossing shot to give NY the 1-0 lead.

Lewis Morgan welcomes CJ Dos Santos to #MLS with a well placed shot into the corner of the net
RedBulls with the early 1-0 lead#InterMiamiCF https://t.co/g0y8Ud4rC3

— Xavier Guerrero (@XGLAVOZ) March 23, 2024

NY controlled most of the first half against a Miami squad that could not muster much on the attack and was fragile when defending. The Red Bulls could not take advantage of Miami’s shortcomings with the teams going into the half with a 1-0 NY lead.

The Morgan Show

The Lewis Morgan show continued with a strike in the 51st minute that extended the Red Bull’s lead against his former team.

Lewis Morgan with the brace for NY RedBulls
Extends the lead 2-0, #InterMiamiCF looks to be in major trouble #MLS https://t.co/eJ2ZE13qjU

— Xavier Guerrero (@XGLAVOZ) March 23, 2024

Once they began to stomp, the Red Bulls did not let up on the Herons. Lewis Morgan made a fabulous run on the wing leaving defenders behind before crossing a ball into the box for Dante Vanzeir. Vanzeir played the ball back to Wikelman Carmona who blasted the shot into the Inter Miami net. NY led 3-0.

Lewis Morgan & the RedBulls are stomping all over #InterMiamiCF 3-0 https://t.co/OAixWVZY4N

— Xavier Guerrero (@XGLAVOZ) March 23, 2024

Morgan’s remarkable afternoon wasn’t over until he scored his hat trick against Miami. It had to be Morgan who put the final horn into the Heron side with his goal in the 66th minute. The match would mercifully end 4-0.

The RedBulls are stomping #InterMiamiCF 4-0#MLS https://t.co/QPSymLJRfD

— Xavier Guerrero (@XGLAVOZ) March 23, 2024

Postgame Press Conference

There isn’t much to say about NY’s dismantling of Miami, Tata Martino summed it up in just a few words,

“We were outplayed from the beginning to the end of the match”

It’s been a while since Inter Miami had been thrashed the way the Red Bulls thrashed them Saturday afternoon. Miami could blame it on the rain like the old Milli Vanilli song or they could chalk it up to being one of “those days”. Whatever the reason for the awful play in NY, they must find a way to prevent it from happening again.

Final Thoughts

Inter Miami missed the players on international duty dearly against NY Red Bulls. Diego Gomez and Federico Redondo eat up the midfield for Miami, on Saturday the midfield was almost nonexistent.

The Heron defense continues to leave questions about their reliability. Kryvtsov has not played well in the 5-3-2 formation but continues to play extended minutes, while a young center-back like Ryan Sailor can barely make it on the pitch.

Lionel Messi needs to heal correctly so he is available for Miami moving forward because Inter Miami is a much better team just because of his presence on the pitch.