Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Despite the Union\u2019s best offensive output of the Major League Soccer season, Inter Miami beat the Union, 6-4, Sunday night at Nu Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Union (1-10-4, 7 points) scored four goals in the first half, including a hat trick from Milan Iloski. <\/p>\n
But Miami (9-2-4, 31 points) scored just as many as the Union in the first half and added two more in the second. Luis Su\u00e1rez netted the winning goal in the 81st minute, and Rodrigo De Paul scored in the 93rd minute.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can never shut [Miami] down,\u201d Union manager Bradley Carnell<\/a> said. \u201cThey\u2019ve shown that … I just wish we could have kept it tighter in certain moments.\u201d<\/p>\n Iloski\u2019s first goal came in the fourth minute. Cavan Sullivan<\/a> played a ball into the 18-yard box that Frankie Westfield nodded on to Iloski, who beat Dayne St. Clair with a crafty shot. <\/p>\n It was Iloski\u2019s fifth goal in league play, and Sullivan was credited with a secondary assist.<\/p>\n Iloski added a second from the penalty spot in the 10th minute. The striker earned the spot kick by pressuring St. Clair, who collided with Iloski while chasing a loose ball inside the penalty area. St. Clair was shown yellow, and Iloski scored his sixth league goal from the spot.<\/p>\n Germ\u00e1n Berterame pulled one back for Miami in the 13th, finishing a chance set up by a Ben Bender gaffe. Lionel Messi pounced on a wayward deflection inside the 18-yard box and sent it across the face of goal to Berterame, who beat Andre Blake<\/a> to cut the Union\u2019s lead to one.<\/p>\n Bruno Damiani scored his first goal of the season to put the Union up, 3-1, in the 20th minute. Sullivan started the play, which eventually leaked out to Westfield. Westfield launched a shot from outside the 18-yard box that St. Clair parried away, but Damiani pounced on the rebound. <\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez cut the Union\u2019s lead back to one with a goal in the 29th minute. An unmarked Su\u00e1rez collected a lofted ball with his chest and launched a right-footed volley from near the top of the six-yard box to push the score line to 3-2 before the half-hour mark.<\/p>\n Messi linked up with Berterame again in the 42nd minute to tie the match at three goals apiece. <\/p>\n Miami took a 4-3 lead in the 44th minute, with Su\u00e1rez putting away a rebound.<\/p>\n Iloski completed a first-half hat trick in the eighth minute of first-half stoppage time from the penalty spot. Sullivan earned the penalty for the Union, drawing a handball on a cross into the penalty area. Iloski buried the kick, his seventh league goal of the season, to even the match at four.<\/p>\n The two teams combined for eight goals in the first half, making it the highest-scoring first half in league history<\/a>.<\/p>\n A South Florida deluge of rain slowed the match down somewhat in the second half. Union manager Bradley Carnell brought on Ezekiel Alladoh for Agust\u00edn Anello in the 57th minute. <\/p>\n Carnell made a pair of changes in the 67th, bringing on Alejandro Bedoya<\/a> and Jeremy Rafanello for Sullivan and Geiner Mart\u00ednez. Carnell clarified after the match that Mart\u00ednez injured his hamstring<\/a> before being substituted.<\/p>\n Messi asked out of the match after taking a free kick in the 73rd minute. The Argentine legend exited to the locker room, grabbing at the back of his leg as he walked down the tunnel. <\/p>\n It is yet to be seen if the injury Messi suffered in Miami\u2019s final game before the World Cup<\/a> will impact his availability for Argentina\u2019s title defense. All team rosters for the tournament must be finalized and submitted to FIFA by June 1. Argentina\u2019s first match at the tournament is on June 16.<\/p>\n Su\u00e1rez scored the winner for Miami in the 81st, completing his hat trick. <\/p>\n