Inter Miami (8-2-4, 28 points) made its annual foray north into Lion territory Wednesday night, and both The Herons and Orlando City (3-5-4, 13 points) looked like travel-weary teams playing a midweek game. Both teams gave it a go with as regular lineups as were available, but by about the 55th minute it was apparent that both teams had been in the northeast three days earlier.

While Orlando outshot Miami 14-7, the teams were even on shots on goal with three apiece, continuing the Lions’ trend of poor looks and poor shot execution. Otherwise, the two teams were relatively evenly matched and the game ended in a scoreless draw with only a handful of good chances.

The sellout crowd of 25,046 contained an extra smattering of Messi followers, but the Argentine did not travel due to a knock picked up in Saturday’s game.

Luis Muriel reinforced why the club needs to find a way to keep both him and Duncan McGuire on the field at the same time, leading or sharing the team lead in shots, shots on target, chances created, and successful dribbles. Unfortunately, some will probably remember him one of his few poor touches on the night when he lost the ball in the Miami box late in the match, after Facundo Torres passed to him between two defenders rather than continuing to drive to goal on an open lane.

Wilder Cartagena turned in another stellar performance as a deputized third center back, it will be interesting to see if Oscar Pareja continues with this trend. However, with the short turnaround and fellow defensive midfielder César Araújo receiving his fifth yellow card, earning an accumulation suspension, the team may be forced to change formation yet again.

We hope you enjoy the photos from the game. Orlando is next in action at San Jose on Saturday.

The Orlando Pride played their third game in 10 days, hosting Racing Louisville FC Sunday night at Inter&Co Stadium. At times, the team’s heavy legs showed, with Orlando dominating at times, but not having quite enough oomph to execute for the entire game (particularly at the end of each half).

In the end, they had enough however, as Emily Sams provided her first NWSL assist to Barbara Banda early, and the team’s grit showed through enough to see out the win. The 1-0 win over Racing Louisville, combined with a Kansas City Current draw, pushed Orlando into first place in the league for the first time since July, 2021.

Orlando’s training room showed some signs of finally emptying out — Marta still remains out, but Adriana and Morgan Gautrat returned from the bench for significant second half minutes. Carrie Lawrence also saw a few game-killing minutes as she continues to work back from last year’s ACL injury. Ally Lemos saw her first start and Amanda Allen and Cori Dyke played extended minutes, allowing for some valuable rotation.

The Orlando market seems to be starting to realize this is a team to be reckoned with, as an announced crowd of 6,837 comfortably occupied the lower tier and a few stragglers were allowed into the upper sections.

Next up, the Pride invite Bay FC to town. With the league debutants conceding a league high 19 goals so far (but still scoring at a good clip) and the Pride tallying eight in the last three games, there should be some fireworks!

We hope you enjoy these images from the Pride’s fifth consecutive victory.

Well that was… costly. The Force was not with Orlando City (2-5-3, 9 points) on Star Wars night, as the Lions fell to FC Cincinnati (6-2-3, 21 points) 1-0. The loss was painful enough, but the Lions also lost center back Rodrigo Schlegel to an early red card, and fullbacks Dagur Dan Thórhallson and Rafael Santos to a concussion and dislocated shoulder, respectively, on each side of the halftime break.

The Lions’ baffling trend of early defensive disorganization continued, conceding the game’s only goal in the first half minute on a ball over the top. Schlegel was behind his linemates, keeping the play onside, the sudden movement of Acosta put him in behind Robin Jansson and Rafael Santos, and Wilder Cartagena overcommitted to stopping the cross/shot near the end line, allowing Acosta to cut back inside the defense and score.

Despite the constant stream of adversity, the Lions continued battling, looking the more dangerous side until Schlegel’s early shower. Despite that, the team kept getting dangerous looks at the net even down a player. Unfortunately, Orlando’s inability to find the net continued, with high-probability chances rattling the woodwork, cleared off the line, missed in the six-yard box (and a couple great saves as time wound down for good measure).

Orlando will try again on the road at Philadelphia next weekend.

We hope you enjoy these images from a hard-fought contest at Inter&Co Stadium between the teams that finished first and second in the Supporters’ Shield race last season.