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The pregame scene outside Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday likely felt familiar to anybody who has followed Lionel Messi’s time in Major League Soccer. Fans milled about, forming a colorful patchwork of Inter Miami pink, the light blue and white of Argentina’s national team, and in this case, the purple of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. Others simply came in whatever soccer jersey they happened to own, all the way down to indoor soccer’s Baltimore Blast, the closest thing the city normally gets to top-flight soccer.
What there wasn’t a lot of was DC United black and red. Despite its proximity to the nation’s capital, Baltimore isn’t exactly DC United country, and as far as decision-makers at United are concerned, that was an opportunity. The club moved the Miami match away from their usual home, the 20,000-capacity Audi Field, to maximize ticket sales, but also to put themselves on display to potential fans in Charm City, a market they’ve badly wanted to engage for years. DC are in the process of starting an MLS Next Pro team in the city, and they’ve partnered with Baltimore’s local government to construct a stadium here for that club.
The relocation mirrors similar decisions from other MLS clubs when Inter Miami has come to town. Last year, the Columbus Crew moved their home match against Miami to Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, home to the NFL’s Browns. Sporting Kansas City were at least able to keep things closer to home, moving a Miami visit to nearby Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs.
Notably Inter Miami won both of those games moved to NFL venues – and so it was on Saturday as the home side succumbed to goals from Messi and Rodrigo De Paul in a 2-1 loss. And while relocating matches like this rankled some longtime fans and season-ticket holders (particularly when moved out of town), there are plenty of justifiable reasons for it. In United’s case, there aren’t many other stadiums big enough around; the only other option other than Baltimore would have been Northwest Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Washington Commanders, a venue almost universally despised by locals.
Unfortunately for DC United, their loss likely did nothing to earn them new fans, or satisfy those who have been around for a while. Inter Miami, on the other hand, likely brought even more into their ever-growing tent.
United have been in the midst of a rebuild for nearly a decade, having cycled through coaches, players, sporting and front office staff at a dizzying pace. Their latest attempt at watchability involves head coach René Weiler – a Swiss journeyman making his 12th stop in the last 15 years – and Dr Erkut Sogut, a former lawyer and sports agent taking his first swing at heading a sporting department.
Weiler joined late last year after the dismissal of his predecessor, former Red Bull New York head coach Troy Lesesne, and Sogut was added this offseason, providing a scant sample size. Nonetheless, early returns have been largely discouraging. The club’s ineptitude was on full display in a disastrous first half on Saturday that saw Miami put the match to bed. United were defensively unsound and entirely unimaginative going forward, both recent hallmarks of the club’s play. The 2-0 half-time deficit flattered them.
The “home” side were much, much better in the second half but only truly threatened twice: once when an audacious overhead kick from Romanian forward Louis Munteanu narrowly missed the frame and again when attacker Tai Baribo notched their lone goal 15 minutes from time.
The United fans who were around for DC’s glory years in the mid-to-late 90s may have seen a touch of the past in Inter Miami’s performance. Miami’s quick, four- or five-pass interchanges in and around the penalty area harkened back to the days of United legends Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno and Raúl Díaz Arce, to the type of creative, free-thinking soccer that’s been absent in DC for over a decade. The Herons weren’t perfect, looking tactically and technically deficient in some ways, but they were as entertaining as they always are, and very few of the 72,026 in attendance were left wanting.
Even casting aside Miami’s trio of stars – Messi, De Paul and Luis Suárez – the club have a host of young Latin American talent, any of whom would prove to be interesting, exciting players on any of DC’s recent rosters. The club’s pockets are not nearly deep enough to attract any Argentinian legends like Messi (or even De Paul), but United would do well to find their own Telsaco Segovia or Mateo Silvetti. The combined reported transfer fees Miami paid for those two players is only slightly more than the club-record $7m spent on Munteanu, who has yet to score this season.
DC’s front office did well to move this match and did well to market it, selling the place out. Unfortunately, the product they marched out on the field was never going to sell any casual fans on DC United. Once again, it was Inter Miami taking fullest advantage.
