Hard-earned: Tambakis dazzles as United edges Miami FC

A relaxing day at South Beach it was not.

New Mexico United had its hands full with winless Miami FC on Saturday and had to put in a full day’s work to escape with a 1-0 road win at Pitbull Stadium.

Luiz Fernando and Alex Tambakis came up big for the visitors, who picked up their third consecutive win. Fernando banged in the lone goal in the 70th minute — his first with NMU — and Tambakis came up with a number of dazzling saves to help United (3-1-0) come away with a tougher-than-expected but satisfying victory.

“Every game is difficult in this league,” United coach Dennis Sanchez said in a postgame phone interview. “It’s not easy going cross country and you have to respect (Miami’s) aggressiveness and physicality. I’d definitely call this a hard-earned win and coming away with three points is huge for us.”

It wouldn’t have happened without Tambakis, who posted his second consecutive clean sheet and the 54th of his career. New Mexico’s veteran goalkeeper posted six saves, including three on shots that seemed destined to end up in the net.

“Tambi was massive for us tonight,” Sanchez said.

To its credit, Miami FC (0-4-0) played like a team determined to end a long, frustrating skid. Saturday’s loss was Miami’s 12th in a row dating to a 1-0 defeat in Albuquerque on Sept. 6, 2024.

But the hosts came out firing, using a vertical attack and creating several quality chances in the opening 10 minutes. Tambakis rose to the occasion, turning aside a hard, point-blank shot from Allen Gavilanes then scrambling to punch away a header by Francisco Bonfiglio on the rebound.

Moments later, Tambakis grabbed an open shot by Cristian Vazquez on the back end of a Miami corner kick to keep the game scoreless.

United also had its opportunities in the first half but narrowly missed the frame on most of them. The match was scoreless at halftime with shot attempts tied at eight apiece.

Gavilanes had two more solid chances early in the second half, but Tambakis turned the first away with a sliding kick save and NMU’s Talen Maples blocked the second. Miami was the aggressor for an extended stretch, but that changed suddenly in the 70th minute.

Ousman Jabang intercepted a Miami pass and quickly found teammate Marlon Vargas with a lead pass near midfield to get New Mexico started in transition. Vargas made a strong run up the center and drew the defense before sending the ball to Fernando on the left wing. Fernando left-footed the ball past diving Miami goalkeeper Bill Hamid to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

“(Jabang) did a great job winning the ball and sending it forward,” Sanchez said. “Marlon set up Fernando with a nice ball, which was very similar to a chance he had last week. This time he was able to finish it — very deserving.”

Vargas’ second assist and Fernando’s debut goal seemed to give United a needed boost and the visitors controlled most of the action over the final 20-plus minutes. Miami did have one last legitimate chance to pull even, but Tambakis made a diving punch save on a long blast by Tobias Zarate.

Miami finished with a 14-10 shot advantage (6-4 in shots on goal) despite New Mexico holding 65% of the possession. Sanchez said Miami’s vertical approach created some difficulties for his team, especially early in the match.

“They were more vertical than what we’d seen in the first three weeks,” he said. “We’d talked about that but it’s not really the same as seeing it. We had to adjust and cope with that and I thought we did better as the game went on.”

United will be back on the road next Saturday, visiting defending USLC champion Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC at 4 p.m.