On Saturday, Florida rivals Inter Miami and Orlando City square off for the first time in the 2024 MLS regular season at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
A late goal on Sunday gave the Herons a 1-1 draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy, while the Lions came away with a 0-0 result in their opening match versus CF Montreal.
Match preview
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After a solid opening victory versus Real Salt Lake (2-0), Miami were not at their best this past weekend, but in the end, still managed to claim a point.
Some outstanding individual quality from Lionel Messi ultimately saved the day, the 14th time the iconic Argentine has scored a result-changing goal in second-half stoppage time for club or country.
Around this time last year, Inter Miami began to decline, losing six successive encounters after matchday two and sitting near the bottom of the table for much of the season before the World Cup winner arrived.
Since the beginning of July 2023, Tata Martino's men have lost just one of their previous nine regular season matches played in Fort Lauderdale (1-0 versus FC Cincinnati).
With a win or draw this weekend, they would be only one game shy of their longest regular season unbeaten run from a year ago (four).
They have won two of their last three matches in all competitions against Orlando City, beating them 3-1 in the opening round of the 2023 Leagues Cup.
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It was a difficult opening 45 minutes for Orlando City last weekend as they struggled to create many passing sequences against Montreal.
We saw them create a lot more in half number two, but the Lions could not find that decisive breakthrough, failing to score in this competition for the first time since September 20 of last season (2-0 loss versus New York City FC).
Counting their playoff victory versus Nashville SC a year ago (1-0), Oscar Pareja's men have at least a point in seven of their last eight away matches versus MLS opponents.
Pareja will be encouraged by what his players showed in their opening tie at the CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC), defeating Canadian Premier League side Cavalry 6-1 on aggregate, scoring three goals in each fixture.
The Lions have not lost any of their last three opening MLS road fixtures but have not won their first away match in this competition since 2016 (1-0 over NYCFC).
They conceded in every one of their visits to Fort Lauderdale versus Inter Miami, though they won their last regular season away contest against them in 2023 (3-1).
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Team News
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Nicolas Freire was on the bench for Inter Miami against the Galaxy after previously suffering a left quad strain, Robbie Robinson is going through a medical evaluation and Franco Negri could miss this match because of a right ACL injury.
Ian Fray and Facundo Farias are unlikely to see the field this weekend with left ACL issues, while Benjamin Cremaschi is recovering from sports hernia surgery.
Last Friday, the club signed Federico Redondo, the son of former Argentinian midfielder Fernando Redondo, with the 21-year-old under contract with Miami until 2027.
Rodrigo Schlegel is eligible to return to the Orlando City lineup this weekend after serving a suspension on matchday one versus Montreal.
Nicolas Lodeiro made his Lions debut last weekend, starting alongside Facundo Torres and Ivan Angulo in an attacking midfield role, with David Brekalo making his first MLS appearance for Orlando on the backline.
Pedro Gallese stopped all five of the Montreal shots that he faced last Saturday, while Lodeiro, Ramiro Enrique and Kyle Smith each netted in their 3-1 second-leg victory over Cavalry on Tuesday.
Inter Miami possible starting lineup:
Callender; Yedlin, Aviles, Freire, Alba; Ruiz, Busquets, Gomez; Messi, Suarez, Campana
Orlando City possible starting lineup:
Gallese; Thorhallsson, Schlegel, Jansson, Santos; Araujo, Cartagena; Torres, Lodeiro, Angulo; Enrique
We say: Inter Miami 2-1 Orlando City
In their two MLS matches so far, we have seen the Herons look vulnerable on the back end, but we believe their individual quality will be enough to earn them three points in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
