{"id":169041,"date":"2026-02-25T19:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169041\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:41:10","slug":"orlando-city-vs-inter-miami-everything-to-know-for-sunday-night-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169041\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando City vs. Inter Miami: Everything to know for Sunday Night Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Derby takes center stage when Orlando City<\/a> host in-state rivals\u00a0Inter Miami CF<\/a> for Matchday 2’s Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire.<\/p>\n

Orlando have made the last six Audi MLS Cup Playoffs under head coach Oscar Pareja, giving them the league’s longest active postseason streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the Lions are coming off a 2-1 home loss<\/a> to Red Bull New York<\/a> on Matchday 1. Winter signing Tiago<\/a> \u2013 one of three U22 Initiative additions from Brazil alongside midfielder Luis Ot\u00e1vio<\/a> and center back\u00a0Iago Teodoro<\/a> – scored late in second-half stoppage time.<\/p>\n

This follows significant roster turnover during Orlando’s offseason. Most notably, the club transferred homegrown right back Alex Freeman<\/a> to LaLiga side Villarreal and moved on from goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can Orlando’s new arrivals and established stars get on the right page in time for Sunday’s marquee game against their biggest rival?<\/p>\n

Maxime Cr\u00e9peau: The Canadian international goalkeeper, signed in free agency this winter, made 11 saves against RBNY in his Orlando debut.\u00a0
\nGriffin Dorsey: Acquired from Houston Dynamo FC<\/a> ahead of Matchday 1,\u00a0Dorsey<\/a> is Freeman’s replacement at right back.\u00a0
\nMart\u00edn Ojeda: The Argentine No. 10 is coming off a career-best 2025 season in which he produced a club-record 39 goal contributions (20g\/19a) in 42 games.\u00a0
\nMarco Pa\u0161ali\u0107:\u00a0Pa\u0161ali\u0107<\/a> hopes to build on his 12g\/5a output from his first season with Orlando, and has the added motivation of trying to make Croatia’s 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> squad.
\nTiago: The 20-year-old winger subbed on late in Matchday 1 and quickly scored his first MLS goal. Will he be rewarded with his first MLS start?<\/p>\n

Midfielder Eduard Atuesta<\/a>‘s status is up in the air after missing opening day with hamstring tightness. As is Wilder Cartagena<\/a>, who left Matchday 1 with an injury. Colin Guske<\/a> replaced him in midfield.<\/p>\n

The reigning MLS Cup presented by Audi champions hope to rebound on Matchday 2, following a 3-0 defeat<\/a> at LAFC<\/a> during the inaugural Walmart Saturday Showdown.<\/p>\n

After scoring a historic 101 combined<\/a> regular-season and playoff goals in 2025 en route to their league title, Miami’s vaunted attack was held largely in check by the Black & Gold on MLS is Back weekend.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi<\/a> was limited to four shots (none on target), while DP signing Germ\u00e1n Berterame<\/a> managed just one attempt on frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Berterame was one of three newcomers who made their first official starts with Miami, along with goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair<\/a> and center back Micael<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tadeo Allende: After setting a new playoff record<\/a> with nine postseason goals last year, Allende<\/a> could make his first start of 2026.
\nGerm\u00e1n Berterame: The biggest signing of Miami’s active offseason, Berterame was acquired from LIGA MX powerhouse CF Monterrey for a reported $15 million.\u00a0
\nRodrigo De Paul: The Argentine midfielder is in his first full season with the Herons, after playing the second half of their MLS Cup 2025-winning campaign on loan from LaLiga giants Atl\u00e9tico Madrid.
\nLionel Messi: The legendary No. 10 is coming off a second-straight Landon Donovan MLS MVP season (29g\/19a in 2025). A third consecutive MVP award is on the table for Messi, who’s also poised (along with De Paul<\/a>) to help Argentina defend their 2022 World Cup title this summer.\u00a0
\nDayne St. Clair: The 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year will want to turn the page after conceding three times on Matchday 1, especially with Cr\u00e9peau<\/a> \u2013 his main competition for Canada<\/a>‘s No. 1 job at the World Cup \u2013 in the opposing goal.<\/p>\n

Will Allende start in attack? Mascherano is exploring his best XI, and the former Celta de Vigo forward could get the nod after Miami were blanked at LAFC.<\/p>\n

Messi will always be the focus whenever he’s on the pitch, especially in the Florida Derby. Putting aside his legendary reputation, the GOAT has a somewhat contentious history<\/a> with the Lions. There’s every reason to expect even more fireworks under the bright lights of Sunday Night Soccer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Florida Derby takes center stage when Orlando City host in-state rivals\u00a0Inter Miami CF for Matchday 2’s Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5429,139,4788,141,140,79600,76891,4959,80458],"class_list":["post-169041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlvsmia-03-01-2026","tag-priority-match","tag-sendtonews","tag-sunday-night-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}