For only the second time in club history, Inter Miami will travel to Shell Energy Stadium on Sunday to face the Houston Dynamo in an MLS fixture.
Orange Crush failed to hang onto an early lead last weekend, losing 2-1 to Dallas, while the Herons notched a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with New York City FC.
Match preview
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Following a strong start in their season opener, taking the lead after 18 minutes, the Dynamo threw their match with Dallas away in the second half.
A disastrous turnover and a poor goalkeeping decision ultimately cost Ben Olsen's side three points, with the Dynamo losing their opening match of the season for the second time in three years.
That defeat also ended their five-match unbeaten run at home in this competition, while they conceded multiple times at Shell Energy Stadium for the first time since matchday 18 of the previous campaign (2-2 draw versus the Seattle Sounders).
Olsen has never lost consecutive home matches in the regular season since taking charge of this team ahead of the 2023 campaign, with the club's previous two-game home losing streak occurring from July-August 2022 (two).
Only once this decade have Orange Crush lost their opening two matches of the MLS regular season, following up a 2-1 loss to FC Cincinnati with a 3-0 defeat at the New England Revolution in 2023.
Houston have won their last three competitive fixtures against Miami, claiming a 1-0 home triumph in 2023 and then a 3-1 victory in the US Open Cup final later that year.
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Down a man with time running out in their regular-season opener, Inter Miami found a way yet again to pick up a point, levelling their match with New York City in the 10th minute of added time.
As a result, they are now unbeaten in their previous 12 regular season matches, dating back to 2024, having claimed maximum points in eight of those encounters.
On Sunday, they can do something they have not done since 2021, win their opening away fixture of a league campaign, playing to a 1-1 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy in their first MLS road game of 2024.
Javier Mascherano was seemingly seconds away from losing his first match as the Herons boss last week, but the Argentine has been bailed out several times this year by the outstanding individual quality his side can boast.
The Herons earned at least a point in each of their final five regular-season encounters as the visitors in 2024, winning those last two games by a single goal.
Since entering the league, the Fort Lauderdale club have only beaten the Dynamo once in four prior meetings, winning 1-0 at home in 2020.
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Team News
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In their opening match of the season Houston had to play without Nelson Quinones and Lawrence Ennali, both of whom were dealing with knee injuries.
Amine Bassi had their only goal against Dallas, while Nicolas Lodeiro, Jack McGlynn and Erik Duenas all made their regular season debuts for Orange Crush.
For this encounter Inter Miami will be missing Tomas Aviles who was red carded after 23 minutes last Saturday, while Drake Callender (adductor), David Martinez (ankle) and Yannick Bright (thigh) are all questionable because of injuries.
Lionel Messi, who notched the opening goal in their two CONCACAF Champions Cup contests versus Sporting Kansas City assisted on their two goals against NYCFC, which were scored by Aviles and Telasco Segovia.
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Tarbell; Dorsey, Bartlow, Awodesu, Steres; Escobar, Artur, McGlynn, Aliyu; Ponce, Bassi
Inter Miami possible starting lineup:
Ustari; Weigandt, Fray, Allen, Alba; Cremaschi, Busquets, Redondo, Allende; Messi, Suarez
We say: Houston Dynamo 1-2 Inter Miami
When all looks lost, Inter Miami always seems to find a way, and that should give them a psychological advantage over a Houston side that were their own worst enemy on matchday one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
