VANCOUVER — Missing soccer icon Lionel Messi wasn’t an issue for Inter Miami on Saturday.
Even without the World Cup-winning superstar, Miami (10-4-2) cruised to a 2-1 victory over the slumping Whitecaps (5-5-4) in Vancouver.
Fans were outraged earlier in the week to hear Miami wasn’t bringing Messi to play in B.C. because of the club’s congested Major League Soccer schedule. The team also left Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez and Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets in Florida.
“We have come without our biggest players. … And even then we have competed very well,” Miami’s head coach, Gerardo (Tata) Martino, said through an interpreter.
“That is a very valuable thing, of course. If we had lost, even if we had competed as well as we did tonight, we would not be as happy as we are now. I think this is a big prize for these players for the effort that they’ve done.”
Pink No. 10 Messi jerseys still dotted the announced crowd of 51,035 and chants of “Where is Messi?” broke out in the game’s early minutes.
Saturday’s result stretched Vancouver’s winless skid to six games (0-3-3) in MLS play while Miami’s unbeaten streak grew to 10 straight outings (7-0-3).
“(Major League Soccer) is like this. Every team goes through this kind of period during the season,” Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini said after the loss.
“So it’s too easy to show that we are a compact group when everything is going well. We need to show it now. And so we are conscious of the fact that we need to do better, but also we’re conscious of the fact that we can do better. So we’ll go from there.”
Robert Taylor scored and contributed an assist, while Leo Campana also found the back of the net for Miami (10-4-2).
Ryan Gauld replied for the ‘Caps (5-5-4), converting a penalty kick in the 72nd minute.
Miami’s Drake Callender made one save and Yohei Takaoka stopped four on-target shots for Vancouver.
The ‘Caps started off with an aggressive offence, and came tantalizingly close to opening the scoring in the eighth minute. Gauld sent a cross to Fafa Picault at the far post and the striker headed it down, only to see his shot blocked by Marcelo Weigandt.
Miami peppered Takaoka with shots across the first half and finally beat the Japanese keeper in the 38th minute.
Jordi Alba sent a ball to Taylor, who got around Vancouver defender Mathias Laborda inside the penalty area, then blasted a right-footed shot past Takaoka to put Miami up 1-0.
Vancouver did not register a shot on target through the first…