FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — New York City FC didn’t need a reminder that Inter Miami wasn’t just Lionel Messi against everyone else.
They still got one anyway, as three goals by Tadeo Allende and a crushing blow by Mateo Silvetti ended NYCFC’s season with a 5-1 loss in the Eastern Conference Final in South Florida.
New York City FC felt the loss of leading scorer Alonso Martínez after being held to just one goal and failing to convert on a trio of second-half chances that would have tied the game.
Justin Haak scored NYCFC’s only goal of the game and Matt Freese allowed more than one goal in an MLS match for the first time since the regular season finale on Oct. 18.
Saturday’s match also marked the first time that NYCFC had allowed the first goal in a match since the playoffs had started.
It was the second time in 2025 that the star NYCFC keeper had surrendered four goals to Inter Miami.
While the coaches and players hadn’t viewed their run as any sort of fluke or themselves as an underdog, they had managed to surprise plenty of MLS observers, knocking off Charlotte FC in the first round and the Supporters’ Shield-winning Philadelphia Union on the road in the conference semis.
Now, NYCFC will begin an offseason that includes needing to re-sign Haak, name a new sporting director and possibly address an extended absence of Martínez.
But they’ll be imagining what could have been after things got out of hand against Inter Miami.
Down 2-1 to start the second half, NYCFC had a chance early out of halftime that was erased by one too many passes inside the penalty area.
A chance by Agustín Ojeda was stopped by the Miami keeper Rocco Ríos Novo in the 48th minute, and after Julián Fernández had a wide-open chance to tie things in the 66th minute, Miami blew the doors open with three straight goals.
Silvetti scored a minute later to make it 3-1 and Telasco Segovia made it a three-goal game in the 83rd minute.
Allende completed the hat trick with a goal in the 89th minute.
NYCFC held off Inter Miami for as long as they could in the opening minutes before Miami’s star power broke through the brick wall that had been Freese through the playoffs.
A minute after Inter Miami failed to strike on a free kick for Messi, Allende put his side in front.
Sergio Busquets sent a long pass toward the box that was misplayed by NYCFC center back Raul Gustavo and allowed Allende to get to the ball in the penalty area for a blistering shot toward the inside post to put Inter Miami up 1-0.
Just under 10 minutes later, Allende struck again.
This time, the Miami striker managed to flick the ball toward the corner past Freese in the 23rd minute after Jordi Alba sent a dangerous ball into the box to extend the lead to two.
Haak helped keep NYCFC in the match with a goal of his own — the Brooklyn native’s first of the playoffs — in the 37th minute.
Haak scored off a header of his own after Maxi Moralez sent a free kick into the attacking area.
The NYCFC center back was able to get high enough to direct the ball just out of the reach of Ríos Novo.
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