The Philadelphia Union Saturday night did many things right in South Florida, played well enough to get a result but ultimately fell, 3-1, to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. The Union, writ large, have done many things right this season and have for long stretches played to the caliber of a playoff team. But with six matches remaining, they ultimately stand outside the playoffs. The 90-minute microcosm in Miami brought that into relief. The Union are, on most days, among the nine best teams in the Eastern Conference, the extremely low bar to clear to be deemed a playoff team. But a stretch of one win in 16 games from April through July put them in dire straits. And even if they have won three of their last five MLS games – and even if the two losses have been to last year’s MLS Cup winner Columbus and this year’s soon-to-be-crowned Supporters’ Shield winner – well there’s no style points column in the playoff standings. “Tonight was a good performance, but it needs to be a great performance when you play against a team the caliber of Miami,” manager Jim Curtin said. “… If the group can recover and perform like that, this group can certainly make a push.” The runway for pushing is running out. The Union (7-12-9, 30 points) are tied for 11th place in an extremely mediocre pack in the depths of the East. They have six games left, starting Wednesday with a trip to New York City FC. Remaining games include a trip to fifth-place Orlando, to third-place Columbus and Decision Day at home against second-place FC Cincinnati. The Union have must-win home games against the two teams immediately ahead in the standings – ninth-place D.C. United (33 points) on Sunday, then 10th-place Atlanta United the following weekend. Any less than six points from those two might end their season. D.C. holds the coveted ninth place, and Toronto is in eighth with 36 points, but both have played one more game than the Union, Atlanta and Montreal, with whom the Union are tied. The margin for error, Curtin reiterated Saturday, is narrow, by the Union’s own doing. The Union played well enough to get a result in Miami but didn’t, which might be why they are where they are in the table and why the Herons (19-4-5, 62 points) are far and away in first place. Messi punished the Union by doing very Messi-like things, scoring in the 26th and 30th minutes upon his return from two months out. He also set up Luis Suarez’s late clincher. The Union scored in the second minute thanks to Mikael Uhre capitalizing off a turnover. They fired a further 20 shot attempts, eight on cage. Drake Callender made seven saves, the best in the 85th minute when he fumbled a long-range effort from Jack Elliott but snuffed out Samuel Adeniran’s bid for his first as a member of the Union. Uhre and Daniel Gazdag had quick-fire attempts in the 18th minute to double the lead, but couldn’t get one past. When those weren’t capitalized on, it was only a matter of time before Messi and Friends punished them. “We wanted to be brave and try to high press a Miami team that is the best team in our league,” Curtin said. “It’s kind of a textbook example of, if you don’t take your chances when you get them – to get that second and third goal in the first half – it came back to haunt us. They obviously have some quality.” The Union now have to go midweek to New York City. They’ll do so without Elliott, who will be suspended for yellow-card accumulation. That means Nathan Harriel is likely to be drafted in at center back of the threadbare defense. Curtin didn’t mention the name of Olwethu Makhanya, ostensibly the other center back on the roster, when given the chance. Saturday’s points, like so many against worse opposition frittered away early in the season, aren’t coming back. So the Union have to move on, and quickly. “Good players punish you,” Curtin said. “We hung around at 2-1, they gave us a couple of real opportunities with clear-cut chances, and this is a night we didn’t finish them off. To go on the road and have that many looks, it’s frustrating. But that’s the best team in our league. You can’t let those chances slip.”