On Sunday, Miami seek a first goal of the 2026 season, leaning on Messi and Germ\u00e1n Berterame, while a goalkeeping duel between the Canada\u2019s two likely World Cup goalkeepers, Orlando\u2019s Maxime Cr\u00e9peau and Miami\u2019s Dayne St. Clair, plays a central storyline. <\/p>\n
Here is Sports Illustrated\u2019s guide to the first Florida derby of 2026. <\/p>\n
What Time Does Orlando City vs. Inter Miami Kick Off?Location: Orlando, FloridaStadium: Inter&Co StadiumDate: Sunday, March 1 Kick-off Time: 7:00 p.m. ET \/ 4:00 p.m. PTOrlando City vs. Inter Miami Head-to-Head Record (Last Five Results)Orlando City: 3 winsInter Miami: 1 winDraws: 2Last meeting: Inter Miami 3\u20131 Orlando City (Aug. 27, 2025)<\/a>\u2014Leagues CupCurrent Form (All Competitions inc. friendlies)<\/p>\n Orlando City (LXWDL)<\/p>\n Inter Miami (WLDWL)<\/p>\n Orlando City 1\u20132 Red Bull New York<\/p>\n Independiente del Valle 1\u20132 Inter Miami<\/p>\n Orlando City vs. Colorado Rapids (Closed Doors)<\/p>\n LAFC 3\u20130 Inter Miami<\/p>\n Orlando City 3\u20132 FC Cincinnati<\/p>\n Barcelona SC 2\u20132 Inter Miami<\/p>\n Orlando City 2\u20132 Nashville SC <\/p>\n Atl\u00e9tico Nacional 1\u20132 Inter Miami<\/p>\n Orlando City 1\u20132 Lexington SC <\/p>\n Alianza Lima 3\u20130 Inter Miami<\/p>\n How to Watch Orlando City vs. Inter Miami on TV<\/p>\n Country<\/p>\n Channel\/Stream<\/p>\n Worldwide<\/p>\n MLS on Apple TV<\/p>\n Orlando City Team News Maxime Cr\u00e9peau had an outstanding performance despite Orlando City’s losing effort on the opening weekend. | Julio Aguilar\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Orlando City<\/a> come into the match looking to solidify things defensively. While they only conceded twice in the loss to Red Bull New York<\/a>, they allowed 11 shots, relying on new goalkeeper Cr\u00e9peau to make 11 saves and earn a rare man of the match honor despite being the losing goalkeeper.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under manager \u00d3scar Pareja, the Lions have shown immense progression, but have yet to enjoy a campaign as true title contenders, often battling for MLS Cup playoff positioning as the season wears on. Should they fall short of three points for the second week to start the campaign, concerns could begin to rise rather quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lions will rely on Mart\u00edn Ojeda in attacking midfield to create chances as he looks for his first goal contributions of the season, following a 16-goal and 15-assist campaign in 2025. Meanwhile, Marco Pa\u0161ali\u0107 hopes to find his form, with eyes on a potential depth role with Croatia\u2019s World Cup squad this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Cr\u00e9peau will remain in goal and be a consistent presence, the backline continues to find its feet after losing U.S. men\u2019s national team<\/a> fullback Alex Freeman to Villarreal before the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Injury-wise, the Lions may be without 18-year-old midfielder and offseason addition Luis Ot\u00e1vio, who has a thigh issue, while center back Robin Jansson and midfielder Jordan Gerbet will miss the match due to more significant injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Orlando have never lost the first two MLS<\/a> matches of a season since joining MLS in 2016. <\/p>\n Orlando City Predicted Lineup vs. Inter Miami How \u00d3scar Pareja could line up the Lions against Inter Miami. | FotMob<\/p>\n Orlando City predicted lineup vs. Inter Miami (4-2-3-1): Cr\u00e9peau; Dorsey, Brekalo, Iago, Mar\u00edn; Ojeda, Guske, Pa\u0161ali\u0107, Ojeda, Spicer, McGuire<\/p>\n Inter Miami Team News Lionel Messi and Inter Miami look to bounce back after a 3\u20130 defeat to LAFC. | Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images<\/p>\n Inter Miami<\/a> know things have to turn around dramatically from the season-opening defeat to LAFC<\/a>. The uplifting aspect heading into this weekend\u2019s clash will be the fact that the loss to LAFC wasn\u2019t them at their worst\u2014they played fine, but were overwhelmed by a much better opponent, which is far from the case with Orlando City.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, it marked the first competitive match with Berterame leading the line and featured Messi shifting into a more traditional No. 10 role, away from the striker position he thrived in to win the MLS Golden Boot in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n With a little more familiarity between those two key attacking players, they can hope to begin producing more often. Against Orlando, the key will be to create chances in the attacking penalty area, after seeing many forward thrusts fizzle out into long shots against LAFC.\u00a0<\/p>\n Outside of the vital attacking duo, this weekend could see the return of MLS Cup record-breaking goalscorer Tadeo Allende to the starting lineup, as well as the continued development of the new center-back pairing of Micael and Maxi Falc\u00f3n.\u00a0<\/p>\n As much as the chaotic friendly in Puerto Rico was at a less-than-ideal time, less than 72 hours before the first derby of the season, it may have allowed Miami to work out some of the growing pains that were evident in California last week. <\/p>\n Manager Javier Mascherano won\u2019t be able to turn to creative midfielder David Ayala this Sunday, as he mourns the loss of his father, while Sergio Reguil\u00f3n remains out with an injury suffered in pre-season.\u00a0<\/p>\n How Javier Mascherano\u2019s Herons may look on Sunday. | FotMob<\/p>\n Inter Miami predicted lineup vs. LAFC (4-2-3-1): St. Clair; Fray, Falc\u00f3n, Micael, Allen; De Paul, Bright; Allende, Messi, Silvetti, Berterame.<\/p>\n Orlando City vs. Inter Miami Score Prediction<\/p>\n This first Florida derby of the season sees two teams anxiously looking to avoid dropping to two losses to start 2026, while also seeking a confidence-building win against their foes. At the same time, it pits two defensive systems still working out some issues against highly-touted attacks.<\/p>\n After being shut out in the season opener, Miami will be incredibly determined to work their way back into the top of MLS Cup contender conversation, likely giving them enough motivation to chase a full three points. <\/p>\n Prediction: Orlando City 1\u20133 Inter MiamiREAD THE LATEST MLS NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND GOSSIP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no easing into the season for Inter Miami in 2026. One week after falling 3\u20130 to LAFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-173852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173852","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=173852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Maxime](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kj4nyxgn34f1q0ecrq.jpg\" "\\"Maxime")
<\/p>\n![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_0,h_0\/c_fill,w_16,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/voltaxMediaLibrary\/mmsport\/si\/01kjjp0tx2aaep6rgx0s.png\" "\\"Orlando")
<\/p>\n![\"Lionel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01kjjq6eg82cg4y0twr3.jpg\" "\\"Lionel")
<\/p>\n![\"Inter](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_0,h_0\/c_fill,w_16,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/voltaxMediaLibrary\/mmsport\/si\/01kjjpppz8p39y0xpx5r.png\" "\\"Inter")
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