MIAMI: Luis Suarez struck twice to take his season tally to 16 goals in 20 Major League Soccer games as Inter Miami cruised to a 4-1 win over Chicago Fire on Saturday.
Miami, once again without Lionel Messi who continues to be sidelined by an ankle injury, have already secured their place in the playoffs and remain in top place for the regular season ‘Supporters’ Shield’.
But there was no sign of Gerardo Martinez’s side easing off as Uruguay’s Suarez continued his impressive scoring form.
The 37-year-old former Barcelona striker made Miami’s opener in the 25th minute when his shot was parried by Chicago keeper Chris Brady only to fly into the net off the helpless defender Tobias Salquist.
Suarez was on target a minute into the second half when he beat Brady with a low left-foot shot at the near post after a smart exchange with Diego Gomez.
The veteran striker made it 3-0 with a close-range finish after a low ball into the box from his former Barcelona team-mate Jordi Alba.
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Giorgios Koutsias pulled a goal back for Chicago in the 82nd minute but Miami completed a convincing win when Leonardo Campana broke down the right and slipped the ball to substitute Robert Taylor with the Finnish winger making no mistake.
Defending champions Columbus Crew, fresh from their Leagues Cup triumph, look well placed to join Miami in the Eastern Conference post-season after two stoppage-time goals earned them a 4-2 win over New York City.
Algerian Mounsef Bakrar looked to have earned New York a point when he finished off a swift counter-attack to make it 2-2 in the 86th minute.
But in the third minute of stoppage time DeJuan Jones took advantage of some hesitant New York defending to poke home and then Jacen Russell-Rowe made it 4-2 for the Crew, who are third in the East.
FC Cincinnati, without suspended Argentine Luciano Acosta, remain a spot ahead of the Crew after a 4-1 win over Montreal with another Argentine, Luca Orellano, scoring twice.
Orellano’s second goal, in the 57th minute, to make it 3-0, was a spectacular strike from inside his own half.
In the Western Conference, second-placed Los Angeles FC suffered a surprise 2-0 home defeat to seventh-placed Houston Dynamo.
Ezequiel Ponce put the visitors ahead in the 28th minute, turning home from inside the six-yard box after LAFC failed to clear their lines.
Substitute Lawrence Ennali made it 2-0, two minutes after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute.
Ennali showed electric pace as he burst down the left, cut inside and rounded Hugo Lloris to slot into an empty net.
Colombian Juan Mosquera’s 54th-minute strike won the Pacific North West derby for Portland Timbers against Seattle Sounders.
Portland, Houston and Seattle are all on 40 points in the tight battle for the top seven spots and automatic qualification to the playoffs with the Sounders currently eighth on goal difference.
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