Inter Miami's third DP, Leonardo Campana, came off the bench and scored the winning goal in stoppage time as the Herons defeated DC United 1-0 in Major League Soccer on Saturday.
Despite Lionel Messi returning to the starting lineup, Miami struggled to create chances against a very well-organized DC defense after missing out on a 0-0 draw against Orlando on Wednesday.
Campana, who had lost his starting position to Luis Suarez this season, was introduced in the third minute of stoppage time and scored with his first touch.
Campana ran diagonally through DC's backline, was picked up by Sergio Busquets, threaded a lofted pass and fired an unstoppable shot past Alex Bono.
It was a brutal end to a game for coach Troy LeCene's team. His performances under manager Wayne Rooney last season look much improved.
The victory gave league-leading Miami its ninth win of the season, matching last season's win total after just 15 games.
The start of the game was delayed by 25 minutes due to lightning, and heavy rain began 15 minutes after the start of the game.
Miami enjoyed the majority of possession in the opening 45 minutes and seemed happy to give the ball away while the visiting team stayed in shape and looked to counter.
After the break, that approach almost paid off, but Jared Stroud hesitantly took a shot from close range and missed a golden opportunity.
Messi only took two free kicks, both of which hit the wall, but the Argentine was well below his best after missing the midweek game with a knee injury.
DC gained momentum and in the 69th minute Matti Peltola's shot went just wide.
Two minutes later, Messi found space in the inside left channel and dropped the ball high on his chest, but his shot went just over the bar.
United had a chance for a win in the final stages of regulation with a smart move, but Christian Dajome's soft shot was deflected away by Drake Callender.
Then, after a largely ineffective night for Tata Martino's side, Campana's immediate impact extended Miami's unbeaten streak to nine games.
Campana was available because Miami coach Gerardo Martino allowed one more substitute after DC was replaced with a concussion, but the team conceded it barely deserved the win.
dull. “I think this game should have been a 0-0 draw. We were lackluster in this game, but you don't want to take away all the good things our opponents did, especially defensively…We did well in the build-up It wasn’t good,” he said.
“(The victory) was a product of character. We could have lost with Drake saving us a minute ago. We were very sluggish and lacked dynamism in our movements.” said the Argentine coach.
In the Hudson River Derby, Algerian Muncef Bakral scored the winning goal in the 64th minute as New York City FC defeated the New York Red Bulls 2-1 at Citi Field.
Italy's Federico Bernardeschi scored a hat trick for Toronto FC, which beat Montreal 5-1 in an all-Canadian match.
Diego Rossi, Christian Ramirez and Jacen Russell Rowe were on target as the defending champion Columbus Crew won 3-1 over the Chicago Fire.
Western Conference leader Real Salt Lake was trailing 3-2 with five minutes left in regulation in the Rocky Mountain Derby at home against the Colorado Rapids, but scored three sensational goals in the closing stages. They won 5-3.
Cristian Arango tied the score with his second goal of the night in the 85th minute, Andres Gomez scored twice to put RSL ahead, and Andersson Julio added a fifth in added time.
Hungarian international Daniel Gasdag scored twice for the Philadelphia Union in a 3-0 victory over the New England Revolution.
Phil Neville's woes at Portland continued, with the English manager seeing his team slump to their seventh defeat in 14 games after a 2-1 defeat at Minnesota.
Portland led 1-0, but former Manchester United manager Eric Ramsey's home team grabbed a point in the 82nd minute with South Korea's Jeong Sang-bin's winning goal.
Cebu/BB
© Agence France-Presse