{"id":261394,"date":"2026-05-07T00:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261394\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T00:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:28:10","slug":"lions-regain-focus-deal-powerful-blows-at-inter-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/261394\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions regain focus, deal powerful blows at Inter Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Orlando City SC continues the fight to resemble a phoenix rising from the ashes of this early MLS season. They defeated Inter Miami CF at their home.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5d\">The Inter Miami squad <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/standings\/2026\/conference#season=MLS-SEA-0001KA&amp;live=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">remains in third place<\/a> in the MLS Eastern Conference. But they didn\u2019t look like it at home as Orlando City SC came to town. The Lions employed a dangerous left foot that supplied a hat trick in the victory.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5g\">Orlando remains third from the bottom after the 4-3 victory in Miami. Until the 39th minute, the match summary looked familiar. Miami went up 3-0.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">The scores were by Ian Fray, 4th minute, Telasco Segovia, 25th minute, and Lionel Messi, 35th minute. Players assisting on the goals included Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Telasco Segovia.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">Then the Lions turned up their concentration. Midfielder Martin Ojeda took advantage as his teammates began seeing chances and took them.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">The designated player unleashed a hat trick, registering his fifth-seventh goals across all competitions for the Lions this season \u2013 39 all-time for Orlando. They came in the 39th, 68th, and 79th minutes, with the final one on a penalty kick. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">Justin Ellis combined with Robin Jansson for helpers on the first score. That makes Ellis the first Orlando homegrown player with a goal contribution in three consecutive matches during the regular season. Captain Jansson\u2019s secondary assist is his seventh all-time and his second this season across all competitions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/01kqztkzt2stk0tbsvc9.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Ellis\" title=\"Justin Ellis\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"62\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 29, 2026; Pawtucket, RI, USA; Orlando City SC forward Justin Ellis (22) dribbles the ball against New England Revolution defender Tanner Beason (4) in the first half during the US Open at Centreville Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Edward Finan-Imagn Images | Edward Finan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">Adrian Marin assisted in the 68th minute.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">It wasn\u2019t a bad game for Miami at first. They finished the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intermiamicf.com\/news\/match-recap-inter-miami-cf-falls-against-orlando-city-sc-x1867\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">match with 61% possession<\/a>. They beat Orlando 25-13 in shots. But when the Lions turned up their focus in minute 39, the home team players couldn\u2019t solve them.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">So Ojeda and his teammates equalized the match 3-3. But the Lions weren\u2019t finished.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">Three minutes into stoppage time, Tyrese Spicer got a ball into the net, assisted by Braian Ojeda, his first for Orlando, and Duncan McGuire. It was McGuire\u2019s first assist of the year as he returned from injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">The 4-3 lead held and posted Miami\u2019s first loss in their new stadium.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Last season, after the departure of Facundo Torres, supporters wrung their hands and wondered what would become of the Lions. That was when <a href=\"https:\/\/otowns11.com\/martin-ojeda-making-good-on-his-vow-to-orlando-city-sc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Martin Ojeda vowed<\/a> to lead the way by stepping up his game. He would press the accelerator and move toward the goal.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">As for Ojeda and Torres, he has joined that player and Cyle Larin as the only Lions to hit 40 goals.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">He didn\u2019t make a vow at the beginning of this season as he did in 2025. That\u2019s because Ojeda and his teammates are still fulfilling their original vows.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow otowns11.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=otowns11.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orlando City SC continues the fight to resemble a phoenix rising from the ashes of this early MLS&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-261394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261394","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=261394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}