FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Running on fumes, playing their 54th game of the year, Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates arrived at Chase Stadium Tuesday night determined to extinguish the resurgent Chicago Fire in a game with playoff implications.

Instead, they trudged off the field after disappointing their fans with a 5-3 loss despite a furious second-half rally and brace from Luis Suarez.

Miami coach Javier Mascherano took full responsibility for the loss, saying it was his game plan that failed, not the players on the field. He made changes at halftime, which helped, but it was not enough.

“I apologized to the players at halftime for not helping them with my gameplan,” said a dejected Mascherano. “Things improved in the second half, we were able to tie it up, and felt the euphoria of being back in the game. But then came the 4-3 goal that was very fortuitous for them, with many rebounds and it just didn’t go our way...and the 5-3 closed the game.”

Both teams had plenty to play for. Inter Miami, which had already clinched a playoff spot, wanted to climb the standings to secure home-field advantage and potentially repeat as Supporters’ Shield champions. With the victory, the Fire clinched its first playoff berth since 2017.

Former U.S. national coach Gregg Berhalter, who took over the Fire this season, spoke of what this win meant to the club and also the pride he has in his players, who followed the game plan to perfection.

“It was about controlling spaces and exploiting spaces behind the back line,” Berhalter said. “It was really important that the players dig deep because of the weather and quality of the opponent. I’m probably more proud of the second half because things were tough and the guys didn’t break. It’s never easy when you surrender a two-goal lead and they tie it up. It’s never easy when you watch the quality they have and hold your breath with every shot they make and every combination they have.”

Asked what, specifically, the Fire did to restrict Messi and hold him scoreless, Berhalter said: “Our goal was to make the spaces small. [Messi] can still operate in very tight areas, so the more we can condense space in and around our penalty box, the more difficult we’d make it for him. But he’s still a quality player, had opportunities, and sometimes you also need a little luck.”

Chicago struck first, taking a 1-0 lead and silencing the home crowd in the 11th minute on a header by 6-3 midfielder Dje Tah D’Avilla, who outmuscled Miami defenders from the center of the box following a cross by Maren Haile-Selassie after a corner kick.

Miami had a few opportunities to equalize in the next few minutes, but Suarez’s shot was wide right by inches and Messi failed to score on two free kicks from just outside the box.

The Fire then beat Miami in transition, where the men in pink have been vulnerable all season, and doubled the lead at the 20-minute mark with a right-footed shot from Jonathan Dean that went under the leg of outstretched Inter Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari.

Miami closed the gap to 2-1 on a close-range goal by an unlikely source, center back Tomas Aviles, who replaced Gonzalo Lujan in the starting lineup on Tuesday. Aviles found himself in a scrum near the right corner of the goal and knocked it in to get Inter Miami back into the game.

But the home fans’ celebration was short-lived, as Chicago took a 3-1 lead four minutes later. The Fire once again exploited Miami’s lack of speed in transition, this time on the right side, and left back Jordi Alba and the other defenders were unable to thwart Rominique Kouame, who blasted a right-footed shot off an assist from Haile-Selassie.

Inter Miami dominated possession 68% to 32% in the first half, but the Fire held the two-goal lead.

Miami is the highest-scoring team in MLS with 68 goals, but Friday morning Mascherano was asked to address the team’s leaky defense, which has given up 52 goals, among the most in the league.

“The talk all season has been on the topic of our defense, but the way I see it, the other day [in a 1-1 tie against Toronto] we did not defend poorly as a team,” he said. “We had 15 minutes where we lost our focus and composure, and they generated two or three chances. I saw the goal they scored as more of an accident, rather than poor defending.

“That said, a common denominator has been that opponents hurt us in transition, and that is part of the characteristics of the team we have and how we play.”

It was a similar story Tuesday night against the Fire.

Mascherano made three changes to the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game. Marcelo Weigandt replaced Ian Fray at right back, Aviles played center back in place of Maxi Falcon, and Telasco Segovia started in midfield instead of Tadeo Allende.

The rest of the starers were Messi, Suarez, Yannick Bright, Sergio Busquets, Rodrigo De Paul, Alba, Lujan and Ustari.

The coach made three changes at halftime: Allende replaced Aviles, Fray went in for Weigandt and Baltasar Rodriguez replaced Segovia. The team seemed to get a boost of energy in the second half and created several chances right away. Messi had a perfect chance, but it clanked off the right post. Then, within seconds, Allende had a great look, but it bounced off the corner of the cross bar as the entire stadium groaned.

Finally, Suarez gave Inter Miami new life in the 57th minute. “El Pistolero”, who had been quiet of late, collected a Rodriguez through ball in traffic and curled his shot into the right corner to make it 3-2. And he wasn’t done. He made a clinical finish in the 74th minute to knot the game at 3-3 after receiving a perfect pass from Alba.

Just when it seemed Miami would escape with at least a tie, or possibly squeak out a win, the Chicago Fire added two more goals in the span of three minutes late in the game. Both goals came from home-grown players. Justin Reynolds scored in the 80th minute and Brian Gutierrez launched a rocket of a shot three minutes later.

Inter Miami sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 56 points, three games remaining and one game in hand. Miami is seven points behind leader Philadelphia. Cincinnati is in second place with 59 points and New York City FC has 56 points. Miami returns to Chase Stadium Saturday night to face the New England Revolution.

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