Inter Miami boss Martino blames referee after draw against NYCFC

Inter Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino claimed the game against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium “lacked a good referee” after a heated duel ended in a 1-1 draw at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

Inter Miami players received five of the nine yellow cards in the entire game, while a Miami assistant coach received an immediate red card and ejection from the bench in the second half. Noah Allen and Federico Redondo will therefore miss the team’s next game against Charlotte FC on September 28 due to multiple yellow cards.

“The team lacked nothing, but the game lacked a good referee,” said Martino in his post-match press conference.

Martino was particularly annoyed with referee Jon Freemon for not calling a foul when Inter Miami defender Yannick Bright went down in the box before NYCFC midfielder James Sands scored a last-minute equalizer with a header.

“We played a good game, we should have won,” he added. “If the referee had penalized the foul on Yannick Bright, we would have won the game 1-0.”

Miami (19-4-7) didn’t get on the scoreboard until the 75th minute when late-entering Leo Campana finished off a play started by Lionel Messi. Messi carried the ball forward before finding Jordi Alba to his left, who burst into the box and passed it to a completely unmarked Campana.

New York (11-11-8) received a corner kick in the fifth minute of injury time and Santiago Rodríguez played the ball perfectly into the penalty area, where Sands was completely unmarked at the 6-yard line and was able to head the ball just wide of the near post.

The game drew 44,738 fans to Yankee Stadium, the second-highest attendance in NYCFC history. The two clubs played a 1-1 draw in Miami on March 30.

Despite consecutive draws against Atlanta United and New York City, Inter Miami continues to lead the Eastern Conference and the Supporters’ Shield with 64 points in 30 games.

The Herons need to score eight points from their final four games to secure the Supporters’ Shield and ten points to break the Major League Soccer record for most points scored in a season. The New England Revolution currently hold the league record, having scored 73 points in 2021.

Inter Miami returns to action next Saturday when they host Charlotte FC at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.