The 2021 Inter Miami CF season was the second season in the history of

Inter Miami CF Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami (), commonly referred to as Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (M ...

and the 18th season of first-division club soccer in

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. In addition to playing in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, the club was scheduled to participate in the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

but the competition was cancelled for the second consecutive year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Background

Inter Miami is coming off their inaugural campaign, which marked the first time since 2001, with the

Miami Fusion Miami Fusion F.C. was an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team played from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one ...

, that a soccer club in

Greater Miami The Miami metropolitan area is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the lar ...

played in the first tier of American soccer. Ahead of and during the season, Miami signed several high-profile players including Argentine international,

Gonzalo Higuaín Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín (; born 10 December 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''El Pipita'' or ''Pipa,'' he is considered to be one of the best strikers of his generation and was a prolific striker kn ...

, from

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

; Mexican international,

Rodolfo Pizarro Rodolfo Gilbert Pizarro Thomas (born 15 February 1994) is a Mexican professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Liga MX club FC Juárez, Juárez. Pizarro began his professional career with C.F. Pachuc ...

, from

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

; and French international,

Blaise Matuidi Blaise Matuidi (born 9 April 1987) is a French former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He most notably played for Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus FC, Juventus, and the France nati ...

, from Juventus. The club also signed several notable young players including

Matías Pellegrini Matías Pellegrini (born 11 March 2000) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Argentine Primera División club Velez Sarsfield. Club career Estudiantes Pellegrini began with Estudiantes, who signed him fro ...

, Lewis Morgan, and David Norman. Additionally, in the

2020 MLS SuperDraft The 2020 MLS SuperDraft was the 21st edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first SuperDraft held exclusively via conference call and web streaming. The first two rounds of the 2020 SuperDraft we ...

, Miami drafted Clemson standout, Robbie Robinson with the first overall pick. The club's first season was significantly altered due to the

, which saw the season suspended on March 12 and not resume until July 8 with the

MLS is Back Tournament The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League ...

. Miami lost their first two league matches before the season was suspended and subsequently lost their three group stage matches (which counted towards the regular season standings) at the MLS is Back Tournament. On August 22 against Floridian rivals,

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

, Miami won their first league match. Inter had better form following the MLS is Back Tournament, ultimately going 7–8–3, and finished the 2020 regular season with a 7–13–3 record, after 23 league matches, a reduction of the original 34 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic, the size of the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs was increased from eight teams in the Eastern Conference qualifying to 10 teams qualifying. Miami earned the 10th and final seed in the playoffs, where they played at fellow expansion side,

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

in the Play-In Round on November 20. Miami lost the match 0–3, with several of their starters missing the match due to an outbreak of

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

on the team. At the conclusion of the 2020 season, the club declined options on eight players. Notable players who did not have their contract renewed for the 2021 season included starting goalkeeper,

Luis Robles Luis Angel Robles (born May 11, 1984) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. Robles holds the MLS record for most consecutive regular-season starts with 183, spanning September 2012 to May 2018. Early ca ...

, as well as

Juan Agudelo Juan Sebastián Agudelo (born November 23, 1992) is a professional soccer player who plays as a striker for San Antonio FC. Born in Colombia, he represented the United States national team. After moving from Colombia to New Jersey at an ear ...

, and Andres Reyes.

Review

Offseason

On January 7, 2021, Inter Miami and first year head coach,

Diego Alonso Diego Martín Alonso López (; born 16 April 1975) is an Uruguayan professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. Other than in his own country, he played football in Argentina, Spain, Mexico and China in a 16-year ca ...

mutually agreed to part ways. Several names were rumored as Alonso's successor including

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English association football, football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers. He is also the co-owner of Salford City F.C., Salford ...

. On January 18, 2021, Neville was confirmed as head coach.

Management

, - !colspan="2" style="background:#F7B5CD; color:#000000; text-align:left" , Ownership , - , - !colspan="2" style="background:#F7B5CD; color:#000000; text-align:left" , Front Office , - , - !colspan="2" style="background:#F7B5CD; color:#000000; text-align:left" , Coaching Staff , -

Roster

Transfers

Transfers in

Transfers out

MLS SuperDraft

Non-competitive

Preseason

Competitive

Major League Soccer

Standings

= Eastern Conference

=Overall table

Results summary

Results by round

Match results

U.S. Open Cup

On July 20, US Soccer finally announced that the tournament would be cancelled for 2021 and would resume in 2022.

Statistics

Overall

{, class="wikitable" , - , Games played , , 34 , - , Games won , , 12 , - , Games drawn , , 5 , - , Games lost , , 17 , - , Goals scored , , 36 , - , Goals conceded , , 53 , - , Goal difference , , -17 , - , Clean sheets , , 7 , - , Yellow cards , , 55 , - , Red cards , , 3 , - , Worst discipline , , , - , Best result(s) , , 5-1(FC Cincinnati) , - , Worst result(s) , , 0-5(New England Revolution) , - , Most appearances , , 26 games (Lewis Morgan) , - , Top scorer , , 12 goals(Gonzalo Higuaín) , - , Points , , Overall:41 , -

Appearances and goals

''Numbers after plus–sign (+) denote appearances as a substitute.''

Top scorers

{, class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" , - !width=30, Rank !width=30, Position !width=30, Number !width=175, Name !width=75, !width=75, !width=75, !width=75, Total , - , rowspan="1", 1 , FW , 9 , align="left",

, 12 , 0 , 0 , 12 , - , 2 , FW , 19 , align="left", Robbie Robinson , 4 , 0 , 0 , 4 , - , rowspan="3", 3 , MF , 10 , align="left,

, 3 , 0 , 0 , 3 , - , FW , 29 , align="left", Indiana Vassilev , 3 , 0 , 0 , 3 , - , MF , 22 , align="left",

Federico Higuaín Federico Fernando Higuaín (; born 25 October 1984) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward and attacking midfielder. He is currently the head coach for MLS Next Pro club Columbus Crew 2. He played 157 games and ...

, 3 , 0 , 0 , 3 , - , rowspan="3", 6 , DF , 28 , align="left",

Brek Shea Dane Brekken "Brek" Shea (born February 28, 1990) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a left midfielder or left-back. Shea began his career with Major League Soccer team FC Dallas after playing in the IMG Academy. He ...

, 2 , 0 , 0 , 2 , - , MF , 7 , align="left", Lewis Morgan , 2 , 0 , 0 , 2 , - , DF , 4 , align="left", Christian Makoun , 2 , 0 , 0 , 2 , - , rowspan="4", 9 , FW , 21 , align="left", Julián Carranza , 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 , - , DF , 3 , align="left",

Kieran Gibbs Kieran James Ricardo Gibbs (born 26 September 1989) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Gibbs began his senior career with Arsenal F.C., Arsena ...

, 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 , - , DF , 5 , align="left", Nicolás Figal , 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 , - , MF , 8 , align="left",

, 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 , - !colspan="4", Total ! 35 ! 0 ! 0 ! 35 As of 8 November 2021.

Top assists

{, class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align: center;" , - !width=30, Rank !width=30, Position !width=30, Number !width=175, Name !width=75, !width=75, !width=75, !width=75, Total , -

Disciplinary record

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - , rowspan="2" !width=15, , rowspan="2" !width=15, , rowspan="2" !width=120, Player , colspan="3", MLS , colspan="3", MLS Cup , colspan="3", USOC , colspan="3", Total , - !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#ff8888;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#ff8888;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#ff8888;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#fe9;, !width=34; background:#ff8888;, , - , 26 , , , MF , , align="left",

Gregore Gregore de Magalhães Silva Favero (born 2 March 1994), simply known as Gregore, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Botafogo. Club career Early career Born in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Gregore was ...

, , 12 , , 2 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 12 , , 2 , , 0 , - , 16 , , DF , , align="left",

Leandro González Pírez Leandro Martín González Pírez (born 26 February 1992) is an Argentine professional association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for Estudiantes de La Plata, Estudiantes. Club career González Pírez played his first professi ...

, , 9 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 9 , , 0 , , 0 , - , 5 , , DF , , align="left", Nicolás Figal , , 7 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 7 , , 1 , , 0 , - , 8 , , MF , , align="left",

, , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , - , 19 , , , FW , , align="left", Robbie Robinson , , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0, , 4, , 0, , 0 , -

Awards and honors

To be announced during the 2021 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inter Miami Cf, 2021 season

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2021 MLS season by team American soccer clubs 2021 season 2021 in sports in Florida