Orlando City vs. Inter Miami: Final Score 4-2 as Lions Blow 2-0 Lead in Home Loss

Marco Pasalic and Martin Ojeda gave Orlando City a 2-0 halftime lead, but poor marking and turnovers in the second half allowed Inter Miami to rally for a 4-2 victory as the Herons (1-1-0, 3 points) won at Inter&Co Stadium for the first time in their history. It was also the first game at Inter&Co Stadium for Lionel Messi, who scored two of the Herons’ goals and assisted on another, but it was turnovers by Orlando (0-2-0, 0 points) in the defensive zone that did the real damage on the night.

Second-half sub Mateo Silvetti pulled a goal back just after the second half started, with Messi knotting things up six minutes later. Telasco Segovia took advantage of a bad mistake at the back by David Brekalo and gave Miami a late lead before Messi tacked on an insurance goal at the end of normal time on a free kick.

City starts the season 0-2-0 for the first time in its MLS history.

“I thought our first half tactically (was good), and the boys did a great job. And second half, we got unorganized, especially in that last third, where Miami is lethal,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “You cannot give those spaces, we knew, and we conceded (the spaces), and then we conceded goals. We’re aiming for consistency, but we’re not having any consistency.”

Pareja’s lineup featured Maxime Creapeau in net behind a back line of Tahir Reid-Brown — deputizing for Adrian Marin, who sustained a thigh injury — rookie Nolan Miller, Brekalo, and Griffin Dorsey. Colin Guske and Braian Ojeda started in central midfield with wingers Ivan Angulo and Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Duncan McGuire up top.

Orlando City came out in a 4-4-2, but Angulo generally dropped in as a fifth defender out wide on the left when Miami was in possession. The Herons kept most of the ball, and created some chances, but Orlando did well in the opening half to stay organized, blocking a lot of attempted through balls and crosses. The Lions looked to transition quickly whenever they got the ball, and that is how they grabbed a two-goal lead in the opening period.

The first warning shot came in the 11th minute when a ball over the top found Messi in front. Crepeau made the save but the offside flag came up anyway. Five minutes later, Messi tried an audacious free kick, going for goal from long range, but his shot was well over the net.

The Lions looked dangerous on the counter but struggled to get the passes right in the final third. That changed in the 18th minute when Angulo stepped in front of a pass to ignite the counter. The Colombian dribbled up the left side and picked out Pasalic at the top of the area as McGuire drew defenders deeper into the box. Dayne St. Clair got a piece of Pasalic’s shot but he couldn’t keep it out and the Lions led 1-0 in the 18th minute. It was Pasalic’s fourth consecutive game against Miami with a goal.

Six minutes later, the Lions struck again. Dorsey took the ball up the right flank and found Martin Ojeda. The two played a quick give-and-go in the box and Ojeda hit his shot with the outside of his boot, finding the inside of the right post and making it 2-0 in the 24th minute.

Much of the rest of the opening half was played in Orlando’s end. Miami did well to keep possession and win it back after losing it with a fierce counterpress. The Herons tried to chip a pass over the back line for Messi in the 27th minute but Crepeau came off his line to collect it. Crepeau then made two huge stops in the 28th minute. The first was a diving effort to deny Rodrigo De Paul from the top of the area. Miami regathered and Messi fired from in close but the Canadian again was there to make the stop.

Tadeo Allende got in behind Reid-Brown in the 33rd minute but he fired his shot right at Crepeau, who made the save.

Miller did well to block a shot and a dangerous cross as the minutes ticked down in the first half. However, Miami did win a dangerous free kick on the left just outside the area in the 40th minute. Messi went for goal but it was deflected just wide of the left post. The visitors couldn’t do anything with a few late corner kicks and Orlando took its lead into the break.

At the break, Inter Miami held the advantage in possesion (55.5%-44.5%), shots (8-4), shots on target (3-2), corners (4-0), and passing accuracy (89%-84%), but the Lions held the 2-0 lead.

The second half was all Miami, with one tactical change that Orlando failed to match up well against, but the Lions also did themselves no favors with sloppy passes, failing to break out and turning the ball over in dangerous areas. Miami brought more width to the midfield with an additional winger, and Orlando did not match the width, allowing the Herons to keep Orlando hemmed in.

Silvetti replaced Noah Allen at halftime for Miami and he paid dividends immediately. Orlando took possession in its defensive third, but gave it away with a poor pass and the ball cycled from the Herons’ right to left and ended up on Silvetti’s foot in space. Despite the long distance, he went for goal and sent a perfect shot just inside the left post to make it 2-1 in the 49th minute.

Miami pulled level in the 57th minute. Orlando couldn’t stop a series of quick, intricate passes at the top of the area and it ended up on the foot of the one guy they didn’t want to have it. Messi blasted a shot into the upper left corner to make it 2-2.

Making matters worse, Miller picked up an injury on the play and had to come off for Iago.

Orlando tried to hit right back, with Martin Ojeda going for goal from midfield, trying to catch St. Clair off his line, but he missed the target and it looked like Miami’s keeper had it covered. Pasalic fired a shot from a tight angle in the 51st minute that St. Clair fought off for a corner, but the Lions couldn’t make it pay off.

Angulo lost the ball in the 56th minute that ended up with a shot by Messi that Crepeau stopped.

Brekalo then hit the post with his header on a corner kick in the 61st minute.

Crepeau caught Messi’s free kick attempt in the 64th as the visitors continued to control possession and chances.

Perhaps Orlando City’s best chance for a third goal came in the 70th minute, when substitute Tyrese Spicer found Martin Ojeda at the top of the area. The Argentine slipped the ball through the defense for Pasalic, who fired, but St. Clair laid out and made a huge save with his feet to keep the game level.

Miami kept Orlando hemmed in its own end with a series of corners but the Lions defended them well, although they couldn’t clear their lines completely and struggled to break out. That got costly in the 85th minute. Brekalo lost German Bertarame, allowing the Miami striker to get inside of him and into the 18-yard box. Bertarame sent it across to Messi, who laid it off for Segovia, who smashed it past Crepeau to give the Herons a late lead.

Things got worse shortly after that for Orlando City. Substitute Eduard Atuesta allowed a pass to run through him in the midfield, but he didn’t have a teammate in line behind him, so it was an awful turnover to jumpstart Miami’s attack. That resulted in Guske pulling back Messi from behind on the counterattack, sending the young midfielder off with his second yellow card. Making matters worse, was Messi caught Crepeau cheating on the long-range free kick and made it 4-2 in the 90th minute.

Orlando’s only real look at goal in the 10 minutes of stoppage time was a long-range blast by Spicer that sailed over the crossbar in the fifth added minute. Miami held on and won its first match in Orlando, sending most of the sellout crowd of 24,453 home unhappy.

Miami dominated the final stats, finishing with the advantage in possession (58%-42%), shots (16-12), shots on target (8-5), corners (8-2), and passing accuracy (88.3%-82.7%).

“We came out at the second half like we did in the first with energy,” Pasalic. “And then we dropped a little bit and two mistakes, two goals for Miami. I’m disappointed with this. I’m sad about the result, about this game, and we keep going. We have to work.”

“First half was very good. We were a team that was very compact,” Martin Ojeda said. “We were very coordinated, and weren’t doing all of the things that really hurt us in that first game, and then moving into the second half, you know, we were a lot lower, and with the quality of players that they have, we can’t give them one meter of advantage, and I think that was the difference in the game.”

The Lions hit the road for their first away match of the season on Saturday afternoon against New York City FC.