Orlando City rising, Inter Miami struggling as intrastate rivals meet
Inter Miami and Orlando City face each other for the first time in more than a year when they clash Sunday night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The heated in-state rivals are trending in opposite directions as Inter Miami (6-2-4, 22 points) fights through one of their toughest stretches since Lionel Messi signed with the club.
Meanwhile, Orlando City (5-2-6, 21 points) enters the match on a 10-game unbeaten streak and the ability to leapfrog their rival in the Eastern Conference standings with a victory.
When the teams last met on May 15, 2024, the match ended in a scoreless draw. If recent trends continue, this year's clash should feature more scoring.
Orlando City has been one of the league's most potent teams with 24 goals in MLS competitions, a major reason they look like a serious playoff contender.
Martin Ojeda leads Orlando with eight goals and enters this weekend tied for third on the MLS leaderboard.
"For me, I think we have one of the strongest squads in the whole of MLS," Orlando City midfielder Dagur Dan Thorhallsson said recently. "If we manage to get the defense and the attack going at the same time, and throughout the whole season, for me there's no doubt we can do damage in this league."
Inter Miami didn't have trouble scoring goals in its most recent match -- a 3-3 draw at San Jose. But defensive issues continue to plague Miami, which has lost five of its past 11 matches across all competitions.
Luis Suarez's presence has been sorely missed the past two matches as the Uruguayan superstar has been out for personal reasons. Fafa Picault has also missed the past two games due to migraine headaches.
"We are committing too many errors that end up in goals," Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said on Wednesday night. "We have to come away with a positive, which is we fought until the end, trying to win and we showed good spirit. But we have a lot to improve because we cannot concede goals like we did."
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