Orlando City at Inter Miami: Five Takeaways

Well, that was a wonderful gift. Orlando City traveled to Inter Miami’s new Nu Stadium for the latest edition of Tropic Thunder. The Lions defeated the Herons 4-3 in a wild one that no one realistically saw coming. At least for one night, the world was a bit brighter, and Florida is purple!

Here are my five takeaways from the match.

An Expected Start

I was expecting Inter Miami to come out swinging, and that is what it did. It took less than four minutes for Ian Fray to put the Herons up in their new stadium. Miami scored a second goal in the 25th minute. Braian Ojeda allowed Lionel Messi to make a run to the post and the Argentine dropped it back to Telasco Segovia for an easy tap-in. A mere eight minutes later, Messi scored what many would have thought to be the nail in the coffin for Orlando City’s hopes. You can’t allow Messi space and the ball at the top of the box. If you do, he will likely score like he did in the 33rd minute. I was not surprised by the score and expected it was just the beginning. I was correct, but not in the way I suspected.

Crepeau the Great

Typically, if a team goes down by three goals, it’s a wrap. You also assume that the keeper that allowed three goals didn’t do a good job. That was not the case for Maxime Crepeau against Inter Miami. Crepeau made a series of four saves in the first half that were very impressive. In the battle of the Canadian keepers, Crepeau defeated Dayne St. Clair. Crepeau was seemingly everywhere, making leaping, diving, and acrobatic saves. Despite the three goals, this was the type of performance Orlando City needs from Crepeau on a regular basis.

Hat Trick Ojeda

If Martin Ojeda is not awarded Player of the Matchday, we riot. His first goal was an absolute rocket. Ojeda took the ball to the top of the box, and then with three defenders between him and the goal, he spun and buried a left-footed shot inside the left post in the 39th minute. Ojeda didn’t get goal number two until the 68th minute. This goal came from almost the same spot just outside the box, and instead of going left, Ojeda opted to skim the ball off the inside of the right post. The third came on a penalty kick. Ojeda had a slight hesitation to send St. Clair the wrong way before hitting the ball under the crossbar. He outscored Messi in his own stadium. That’s good enough for me, but he still deserved the accolades.

Cardiac Cats Strike Again!

Find yourself someone who loves you as much as Tyrese Spicer loves scoring late goals. I was very happy for Orlando City to leave Miami with a road point and ruining Messi’s night. Fortunately, Spicer decided that one point wasn’t enough. Braian Ojeda sent a pass up through the middle of the pitch towards Martin Ojeda. However Martin had come back from an offside position and allowed the ball to go through to a streaking Spicer who cheekily put the ball past St. Clair to score the winning goal. What can you even say?

An Unexpected Finish

As I mentioned above, I did not expect Orlando City to win this match. In fact, I predicted a 4-2 loss on The Mane Land PawedCast. I’ve never been more happy to be wrong about one of my predictions. There’s something truly wonderful about spoiling Messi’s and Miami’s day. The Herons were looking for their first victory in their new (Nu?) stadium, and everyone thought they would decimate a struggling Orlando City on short rest. Not only was that not the case, but the Lions became only the third team to come back to win an MLS match after going down three goals. This was an unexpected, but very welcome, victory.

Those are my takeaways from Orlando City’s surprising victory over its Florida rivals. This was a Topic Thunder match for the history books, and one I will savor during the dark times. Let us know your thoughts about the Inter Miami match in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!