MIAMI (August 1, 2021) — The Miami FC trail Charleston Battery 2-1 at halftime at FIU Stadium in the heart of Miami. Charleston scored two quick goals to put the away side up, but midfielder Ariel Martinez was able to slice the lead in half moments before the half.
Despite having several chances, Miami FC would go down in the 11th minute off a goal by forward Nicque Daley. Charleston’s striker had the ball take a deflection off his head, leaving him one-on-one with Connor Sparrow and curling it into the net to make it 1-0.
Charleston doubled the lead in the 30th minute as midfielder Zeiko Lewis received a through ball past Miami’s backline and found himself alone inside Miami’s 18-yard box. Lewis calmly fired it past Sparrow, who again was left with no chance to keep it out.
Moments after going down two goal, Ariel Martinez was taken down inside the box by Joe Kuzminsky but the referee made no call, leaving the Cuban midfielder furious.
Martinez would get his revenge in the 45th minute as he glided past several Charleston players and fired a low-driven shot into the bottom right corner of the net. This was the Cuban’s fourth goal of the season.
Moments into the second half, Miami threatened as Junior Palacios regained possession after a piece of interplay with Othello Bah that set up a powerful shot that Kuzminsky did well to turn wide. The hosts got on level terms just past the hour-mark, though, as Robert Kcira played a perfect through-ball for Francois to break onto in the left side of the penalty area, and after his first touch created an angle to shoot past the advancing goalkeeper the Haitian international slid home his finish just inside the left post.
Kcira was sent off with 20 minutes to go after receiving a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident behind the play, leaving the hosts down a man, but despite that Miami took its first lead of the night in the 78th minute as Forbes struck. Awarded a free kick beyond the top-right edge of the penalty area, 25 yards from goal, the Turks and Caicos international fired a shot that went over the wall and picked out the top-right corner of the net.
Up a player, Charleston tried to find a response in the final 10 minutes and both Ben Di Rosa and Romario Piggott sent chances off target in the closing stages. As the game moved into stoppage time, the Battery went even closer as Piggott headed just wide of the left post off a cross from the left by Burke Fahling after the visitors had recycled a corner kick back out to the flank. There would be no late finish, however, as Miami held on for a big comeback victory.
