New York Red Bulls 2-0 Inter Miami: Messi unable to spark comeback after Casemiro own goal

Casemiro scored an own goal as Inter Miami fell to a 2-0 defeat against the New York Red Bulls in MLS.

Lionel Messi was unable to make an impact off the bench after Casemiro's early mistake, while Emil Forsberg secured all three points for the hosts late on as the Herons saw their three-game winning run snapped.

Julian Hall should have opened the scoring with the first shot of the game, turning Cade Cowell's cut-back past the left post, but it mattered little as another low cross from Cowell in the seventh minute was turned into his own net by Casemiro.

Hall missed another great opportunity in the 18th minute as he headed over from inside the six-yard box, despite having an unguarded goal in front of him, while Jorge Ruvalcaba missed a carbon copy of Hall's first chance on the stroke of half-time.

Messi was introduced off the bench after a quiet start to the second half, but NYRB's dominance, and wastefulness, continued as Ruvalcaba was twice denied while one-on-one with Dayne St. Clair.

Miami's best chances came in the 84th minute, but Santiago Morales was kept out by Ethan Horvath after an inch-perfect pass from Messi, while Telasco Segovia's rebound cannoned back off the crossbar.

An experienced presence in Forsberg then wrapped things up in the 91st minute, scoring a simple tap-in after Cameron Harper intercepted a poor pass from St. Clair and squared it to the Swedish midfielder.

Worrying signs for Miami

Despite the Red Bulls eventually scoring a second, the scoreline is still a flattering one for Miami, who were second-best from minute one to 90 at Sports Illustrated Stadium.

NYRB accumulated 3.31 expected goals (xG) from 19 shots, five of which were Opta-defined big chances, while restricting Miami to just 0.81 from their 12 attempts.

Both Hall and Ruvalcaba will be wondering how they did not get on the scoresheet, with the pair responsible for 1.92 of the Red Bulls' xG and four of their five big chances.

Ruvalcaba led NYRB in xG (1.34), shots (six), touches in the box (seven) and big chances (three), and Michael Bradley will acknowledge his side could have been punished on another day by the likes of Messi and Luis Suarez.

However, on this occasion, Suarez registered two shots worth just 0.09 xG, while Messi recorded one shot and created two chances off the bench, with Miami now turning their attention to a home clash with FC Cincinnati on Wednesday.