Even Sergio Busquets got it wrong. It was halfway into the second half of Inter Miami's clash with Orlando City Sunday night, and the Herons were starting to look desperate. Lionel Messi took extra touches. Luis Suarez - who cannot really dribble past anybody - tried to dribble past everybody. Jordi Alba threw in arms in frustration when he didn't receive the ball.
And most glaringly of all, Busquets forgot how to pass. The legendary defensive midfielder swiveled his hips, turned towards the goal, and tried to find that signature pass into Messi's feet. It's a ball he has played hundreds, if not thousands of times, in his career. Instead, it went straight to the feet of an Orlando City defender.
It was a moment emblematic of where Miami are right now. There's too much going on. It's too frantic, too, well, messy. The Herons are all about control, and they have lost it. One win in seven games is bleak. Getting beat, 3-0, by your rivals at home sums it all up.
There are some, in the darker corners of social media, starting to call for manager Javier Mascherano's job. This, of course, is the natural flow of the sports landscape. A team does bad things and the coach is to blame. Changing the coach, at this point, would be foolish. Miami are in the midst of a bad run, but probably have the talent to play their way out of it - and the financial resources to make use of the transfer market if things get worse.
Still, in recent weeks, it has become clear just how inexperienced Mascherano is on the touchline. In times like these, teams need a true leader at the center of everything who can tweak his system and grind out results. Right now, it all looks like a deferential friend of his star players trying to trust that his team is simply good enough to improve - rather than taking an honest look at his side and adjusting.
