Many people expected for Inter Miami to cool off in their winning strides after Lionel Messi went out with an injury a few weeks ago, and yet it seems that the club is on its way to continue winning more games after they defeated the Chicago Fire without the Argentine star in a 2-1 affair that has set them as the top point club in the season en route to the Leagues Cup.

Considering how Miami FC looked like before they actually acquired Messi, it did seem that the squad would have a lot of struggles to begin with. However, the squad is full of hope as they enter the break at the top of the league and hopefully, Messi recovers before the takes on the next challenge at hand. It seems that Inter Miami is definitely locked in towards a league title at this point in time, and not even injuries to their top star is going to stop them.

As of the time of writing, Inter Miami is four points ahead of LA Galaxy, five points up on Cincinnati, and 10 points ahead of crew. That says a lot about the potential chance of the team getting to the deeper campaign that they have always been looking for after that victory against the Chicago Fire.

A Stretch of Confidence for Inter Miami

Before their 6-1 loss to Cincinnati, Inter Miami has been unbeaten in five games in a row, and they even ended their campaign on a high note by winning the last two games, 3-1 vs Toronto and 2-1 vs Chicago, which means that the team has definitely clicked well even with Lionel Messi out of the picture. So far, there has been quite the confidence for the team at this point, and it cannot be denied that the team has clearly managed to thrive.

The depth is clearly promising. They still have Sergio Busquets and Yannick Bright to anchor the rest of the team, and that says a lot about how the team is clearly suited for a championship now more than ever. Miami’s hopes of a title are very much alive, and at this point, one can even say that there is more to expect from the team as they continue to play at a high level compared to their previous seasons now more than ever.

No Messi, No Problem

Well, with Lionel Messi out of the picture, it was expected that Miami would struggle to come up with elite scoring and outright lose to one of the lowly teams in the league. The story was quite the contrary yesterday as Inter Miami went on to detonate over Chicago. Matias Rojas scored a goal six minutes into the game to get Miami a 1-0 lead. It took Chicago a lot of time to respond, coming up with a tying goal in the 73rd minute, only to be answered by Jordi Alba’s game-winner two minutes later.

Miami looked like its usual self in the game. They went two for nine of their shots on target and completed 87% of their passes. They nearly controlled the whole game with their prowess in the passing lanes while their defense has been stellar in forcing Chicago to just five shots on target out of 14 attempts.

With Messi, Miami has been an unstoppable juggernaut on the offensive end. But with the star out with a ligament injury in his right ankle, it seems that Miami FC will have to try and wade the challenging waters of the MLS and beyond without him. From the looks of it, it does seem that they aren’t even struggling, but more of thriving instead.