The Columbus Crew came from two goals down to put an end to Inter Miami CF’s Leagues Cup title defense on Tuesday night at Lower.com Field.
Christian Ramírez started the rally and Diego Rossi scored twice as the reigning MLS Cup champs fought back after going behind to goals from Miami’s Matías Rojas and Diego Gómez to win the game 3-2 and reach the quarterfinals.
Miami is still playing without superstar Lionel Messi, who has been out of action since suffering an ankle injury in Argentina’s Copa América final win over Colombia last month.
Miami looked sharp to start the game as Rojas headed past Nicholas Hagen early in the first half. Gerardo Martino’s team looked to be cruising to a quarterfinal berth when Gómez curled a lovely shot into the far right corner from a Luis Suárez pass.
But the Crew, third in MLS’ Eastern Conference and especially good at home under coach Wilfried Nancy, came storming back when Rossi and Ramírez scored in a matter of minutes to level the score and went ahead when Rossi rolled the ball home from a difficult angle to seal the win.
The Crew will face the winner of the round-of-16 game between New York City FC and Tigres in the quarterfinals, while Miami, which won last year’s inaugural edition of the Leagues Cup, gets some time off before resuming MLS play on Aug. 24 against top-of-the-table rivals FC Cincinnati.
