Intractable. So was Pipita Higuaín on Saturday night. Photo: AFP
As if time hadn’t passed, Gonzalo Higuain continues to show its validity as a marker. The hangnailin the final phase of his extraordinary career, he made his first hat-trick in Major League Soccer this Saturday in a dramatic 4-4 between his team, Inter Miami and FC Cincinnati.
The former forward of River, Real Madrid and Juventus scored all three of his goals in the first halfstarting with a spectacular free kick that crashed into rival team in the 23rd minute.
The young Brazilian forward from Brenner drew in the 28th minute, but Higuaín put Inter ahead with a notable assist from Spaniard Álex Pozuelo in the 37th minute.
The Brenner equalized again on the counterattack in the 40th minute, but an inspired Higuain completed his hat-trick before the break: the Argentine made it to the fifth minute of recovery after a penalty called by referee Tori Pensi.
Higuaín, 34, took revenge in a complex third season in Miami, in which he obtained seven fries in 18 games played, half of which as a substitute.
The Argentinian’s success came close to in vain after another young FC Cincinnati jewel, American Brandon Vázquez, pushed his side forward with two goals in the 81st and 86th minutes.
Fans of Inter, jointly owned by David Beckham, were able to at least celebrate a heartbreaking draw with the Swedish Christopher McVey’s goal at 90 + 7.
Gonzalo Higuain had a fantastic night in the MLS. Photo: AP
“The frustration is huge because I think we played the best game of the year in attack. But in defense we must all defend together. We are a team, we all win and we all lose,” Higuain stressed.
And he added: “There is a long way to go, in football I have experienced many things and we still have ‘chance’ to qualify,” underlined Higuain, whose last hat-trick was when he played for Juventus in Serie A in Italy. . .
With 26 points from 22 games, Inter are 11th in the Eastern Conference, four below the playoff zone.
In another of Saturday’s results, Los Angeles Galaxy lost 1-0 on their away trip to FC Dallas with Argentina’s Franco Jara goal in the 9th minute. Mexican Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández, a Galaxy figure , forced a penalty in the 64th minute but a shot from team mate Dejan Joveljic was blocked by Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Paes.
There were also Argentine goals in the 4-4 between Minnesota and Portland. Franco Fragapane scored for the locals, while in the visit there was a brace for Sebastián Blanco, who scored his first goal before the minute of play to get the first cry of the season.
Also celebrating was former Banfield player Julián Carranza, who has scored eight goals this season and scored one in Philadelphia’s 6-0 win over Houston Dynamo.
For his part, Cristian Espinoza contributed with a penalty in the 2-2 San Jose Earthquakes against Real Salt Lake. The same goes for Sebastián Driussi, the league’s top scorer, who decorated Austin FC’s 2-0 away win against Kansas City.
All results to date
– Friday:
Los Angeles FC-Seattle Sounders 2-1
– Saturday:
Minnesota United-Portland Timbers 4-4
Chicago Fire 0-0 Atlanta United
Montreal – New York City FC 0-0
Philadelphia Union-Houston Dynamo 6-0
Inter Miami 4-4 FC Cincinnati
Nashville-Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1
New England Revolution – Toronto FC 0-0
Sporting Kansas City-Austin 0-2
FC Dallas-LA Galaxy 1-0
San Jose Earthquakes – Real Salt Lake 2-2
Charlotte – Columbus Crew (suspended for rain at 17 ‘at 0-0)
– Sunday:
DC United – Orlando City
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
