First Half Red Card Spoils Miami FC's Opening Night in 0-2 Loss to Detroit

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USL Miami FC

First Half Red Card Spoils Miami FC's Opening Night in 0-2 Loss to Detroit

March 9, 2025 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Miami FC News Release


Miami, FL - A red card to Francisco Bonfiglio in the first half rained on Miami's hopeful 2025 opening night parade Saturday night at Pitbull Stadium as the visitors from Detroit City FC used a first half goal and late second half goal to defeat Miami FC 0-2.

With a revamped roster and new energy of a new season, Miami was eager to be aggressive from the first whistle. That aggression almost paid off immediately for Miami's Sebastian Blanco.

With Miami pressing Detroit high in the 2nd minute, Diego Mercado intercepted a Detroit pass and sent it through to Blanco. The Miami captain has a clear chance on goal from 15 yards, but Detroit's keeper made an excellent save to deny Blanco his first goal of the season.

Unfortunately for Miami, it would be their best chance of the night.

As both teams settled into the game, neither side threatened each other for the majority of the next 30 minutes. That changed for Detroit after winning a corner kick in the 35th minute.

Set pieces haunted Miami FC in the previous season and haunted them again as Michael Bryant managed to rise above the Miami defenders and put his header in the top corner, leaving Miami's Rodriguez no chance for the save.

The match took a physical turn in which saw Miami began to lose some composure resulting in a total of 7 yellow cards. But it was the second yellow card for Miami's Bonfiglio that caused the most damage for the evening.

The young, promising forward already on a yellow card made another costly foul on Detroit's defender leaving the official little choice but to issue a second yellow resulting in Bonfiglio being sent off.

Miami was then forced to play down a man for the remainder of the first half and the entire second half.

Predictably, the second half became a difficult situation for Miami as they were left with little option other than try and pick their moments to attack, while defending the majority of the time.

The defense played admirably, but finally gave away in the 87th minute as Connor Rutz took a well placed cross from the 6 yard area and easily beat Rodriguez to seal Miami's fate.

Miami will look to quickly shake off the loss and get their first win of the season next Saturday, March 15th against Indy Eleven. Kickoff will be at 7:00pm ET and available for streaming on the FanDuel Sports Network app. Tickets for the match are on sale now at miamifc.com/tickets.

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