By Ben Nagle

Published: 04:28 BST, 16 June 2024 | Updated: 04:56 BST, 16 June 2024

Despite missing star man Lionel Messi and having two men sent off, Inter Miami produced a sensational late winner to beat the Philadelphia Union.

David Beckham’s team are enjoying a brilliant season after their struggles of last year, and perhaps the best moment of the season came without their World Cup winner on the field.

While Messi is away with Argentina, Gerardo Martino’s team headed to Eastern Conference rivals Philly, and what could have been a disaster turned into a night to remember – especially for one rookie.

Leo Afonso, who has only recently been promoted to the first team after graduating from the academy set-up, became the match-winner in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time to stun the home crowd.

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His first goal for the team came on a night with Messi and Luis Suarez missing from the Miami lineup ahead of Copa America. 

Leo Afonso wheels away in celebration after sealing a stoppage-time winner for Inter Miami

It was a night to remember for the league leaders, despite the absence of Lionel Messi

Miami also saw David Ruiz and Tomas Aviles each sent off in the second half as both were shown their second yellow cards.

Union, meanwhile, have now lost seven straight games at home – a run stretching back to March 30. 

Missing leading scorers Daniel Gazdag and Julian Carranza, the Union opened the scoring in the third minute. Mikael Uhre got on the end of a ball from Jakob Glesnes, beat his defender, and fired it past Drake Callender for his sixth goal of the season.

The Union sought to double their lead in the 13th minute as Quinn Sullivan was put through, but he could only fire wide of the target.

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Messi is currently on international duty with Argentina ahead of Copa America next week

Inter Miami received two red cards in Philadelphia, but still walked away with all three points

Without Messi and Suarez, Miami initially struggled to find a flow offensively, not being credited with a shot on goal — or a single shot, for that matter — until the 39th minute. 

But the breakthrough came in the 47th minute as Julian Gressel ripped a right-footed effort past Oliver Semmle for his first goal of the season, tying the match at 1-1.

After seeing their ranks reduced to nine men — first as David Ruiz was shown his second yellow card in the 69th minute before Tomas Aviles picked up his own second caution in the 88th minute — Miami found an improbable winner through Afonso, snapping a brief two-match winless run in the process.

The victory sees Inter Miami extend their lead at the top of the MLS Eastern Conference, with 11 wins from their first 19 games of the season.

enrico marone cinzano lands at design miami/ basel 2024

Italian artist Enrico Marone Cinzano presents the Rosa Tank Lamp with Friedman Benda at the 18th edition of Design Miami/ Basel 2024. Joining a group installation at the gallery’s Booth 2 on sculptural design, the monochromatic Rosa Tank Lamp has been consciously crafted by combining a large slab of leftover pink onyx and recovered World War II tank prisms illuminated with LED light. Marone Cinzano’s piece is exhibited alongside Ini Archibong, Wendell Castle, Carmen D’Apollonio, Misha Kahn, Samuel Ross, Ettore Sottsass, and Barbora Žilinskaitė. Through this collective show, the gallery examines idiosyncratic visual languages, material choices, and distinct processes by eight leading studios.

all images courtesy Scott & Co

Rosa Tank Lamp blends pink onyx with WWII tank prisms

Born from an idea after Enrico Marone Cinzano (see more here) purchased a large slab of leftover pink onyx sourced in Italy, the translucent rock forms the base of a hand-painted steel structure encased with recovered World War II tank prisms illuminated with LED lights. The Rosa Tank Lamp exhibited at Design Miami/ Basel explores the artist’s interest in nature and the environment by producing designs focused on sustainable and found materials, combining pink hues with industrial materials. The unique work blends craftsmanship, a profoundly conscious and ethical approach to repurposing recovered materials, and proportions influenced by the Golden Ratio.

Enrico Marone Cinzano presents the Rosa Tank Lamp

enrico marone cinzano leverages the golden ratio

A self-taught Italian designer, Marone Cinzano creates unique works devoid of restricted rules and informed by a strong visual memory, influenced by Italy’s architecturally rich cities, such as Florence, Rome, and Turin. His ideas draw from many facets, such as his fascination with physics, mathematics, nature, and sociology, intertwined to construct a holistic approach to design. His inspiration from the Golden Ratio helps create an organically balanced design. The ratio itself comes from the Fibonacci sequence (named after the Italian mathematician Leonardo Bonacci), a naturally occurring sequence of numbers that can be found everywhere, from the number of leaves on a tree to the shape of a seashell. This formula helps formulate dimensional relationships between art and design and, eventually, the creation of harmonious compositions.

This scientific discipline has informed Enrico’s use of a hybrid of sustainable, durable, and recycled materials. Later this year, Enrico will also stage his first solo exhibition in the US at Friedman Benda Gallery in New York from November 14th to December 22nd, 2024.

recovered World War II tank prisms illuminated with LED lights

seven other participants at friedman benda’s booth

Exhibiting beside the Italian artist, Samuel Ross presents Fire Open Stone (2022), which explores the connections between body, material, meaning, and memory, drawing inspiration from West African furniture, modernism, and brutalism. Up next is Misha Kahn with her Saturday Morning series mirrors comprising sewn flexible vinyl molds and cast resin with references to historical motifs, and Mole Eats Worm (2020) sofa, Barbora Žilinskaitėalso joins the group installation with Sunbather (2023), a piece reflective of her exploration of brightly colored dyes and surrealistic organic corporeal forms. Meanwhile, Ettore Sottsass’ Aluminum Cabinet (C) and (D) (2024) reflect the designer’s pursuit of craftsmanship, moving away from industrial materials during the last fifteen years of his life.

Elderly residents and families were rescued from high water in North Miami Friday as authorities announced that shelters were open and deployed pumps to help drain the flooding.

On Saturday, a flood watch remains in place for Miami-Dade and Broward counties. See all weather alerts here.

NBC6 reporters witnessed over 14 people being rescued from their flooded homes by NE 144th Street in North Miami Friday. Some were rushed to the hospital and others were taken to a recently opened shelter.

“First of all, you can’t drive down the street… All their belongings are wet. Every house on this street is damaged,” North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme said at the scene.  

One family of five finally got the help they desperately needed when marine rescue crews plowed through several feet of water and brought them to safety. 

Over 20 homes on just one street could be seen surrounded by filthy brown water.

The same scene played out across the area, including for an elderly couple whose clothes and furniture are covered in soil. 

“That’s my wife. She’s blind. She has diabetes and she’s blind,” one man said as he showed NBC6 his flooded home. 

The family said they had nowhere to go and were essentially trapped in those conditions. 

Others took to shelters, like one woman who was stranded in her waterlogged car with her four children.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state has deployed about 100 pumps in addition to what cities and counties are using to try to clear water from streets.

Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said while flooding was extensive, there were no reports of destroyed homes and very few of severely damaged homes. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.

“We don’t think there’s going to be enough damage to necessarily qualify for a federal disaster declaration,” DeSantis said. But he added the storms may have affected enough business to qualify for Small Business Administration assistance.

NBC6’s Chelsea Ambriz has your forecast for today, Saturday, June 15, 2024.

Is the worst over?

Although more rain could trigger additional isolated Florida flooding on Friday, forecasters say the strong, persistent storms that dumped up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) in southern parts of the state appear to have passed.

Officials said that though some neighborhood streets in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas still have standing water, it is rapidly receding.

“The worst flooding risk was the last three days,” said Sammy Hadi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. “The heaviest rainfall has concluded.”

The no-name storm system pushed across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at roughly the same time as the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.

DeSantis held a media briefing in Hollywood, south of Fort Lauderdale, and said while more rain was coming, it’s likely to be more typical of South Florida afternoon showers this time of year.

“We are going to get some more rain today, maybe throughout the balance of the weekend. Hopefully it’s not approaching the levels that it was, but we have a lot of resources staged here and we’ll be able to offer the state’s assistance,” he said.

The downpours hit Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, delaying flights at two of the state’s largest airports and leaving vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets. The main problem was hundreds of vehicles that were stranded on streets as people were unable to navigate the flood waters.

“Looked like the beginning of a zombie movie,” said Ted Rico, a tow truck driver who spent much of Wednesday night and Thursday morning helping to clear the streets of stalled vehicles. “There’s cars littered everywhere, on top of sidewalks, in the median, in the middle of the street, no lights on. Just craziness, you know. Abandoned cars everywhere.”

Rico, of One Master Trucking Corp., was born and raised in Miami and said he was ready for the emergency.

“You know when its coming,” he said. “Every year it’s just getting worse, and for some reason people just keep going through the puddles.”

In Aventura, north of Miami, Juan Gomez, a 27-year resident of South Florida, has never seen flooding as severe as the recent storm that hit his rental unit. He said Friday he is preparing for future storms, having experienced firsthand the devastating effects of flooding on his property Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We were taking water from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. that night. And we did as much as we could. Yeah, but still some furniture got damaged. Some of the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom cabinets got damaged because of the water and the material in the floors, definitely, they need to be changed,” Gomez said.

“So it is hard and we have to be prepared,” he added. “We are going to be more prepared. In fact, we are trying to get some supplies if something comes in the few next weeks. So, like sandbags, more supplies to be prepared.”