With a brutal start, Inter Miami beat Orlando City 5-0 in the Florida Classic, Saturday afternoon at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale at the start of a seven-game series for the pink and black squad in March .
After the result, Inter Miami is at the top of the Eastern Conference and in the MLS with seven points in three games.
Two goals from Luis Suárez (4, 11′), two from Lionel Messi (57′, 62′) and one from Robert Taylor (29′) allowed the home team to emerge with an important victory against a team that last season had reached the Eastern Conference semifinals in the MLS playoffs.
In the League’s Cup, Orlando City gave a fierce battle to Inter Miami and it was expected that this time it would also be a high-voltage match.
Suárez’s early goals, as soon as the match began, had a double effect: they cut the León’s claws and allowed the Uruguayan attacker to remove the monkey from his back that was weighing him down, since he had not been able to score since he joined the Surflorida team. .
In addition to this, on this occasion it was demonstrated that Inter Miami is not just Messi, but a band of important players who can decide a match at any time.
Suárez also demonstrated it with two goal assists; the marker Jordi Alba had some spectacular runs that destabilize any defense; goalkeeper Drake Calender saved the team in key moments; Sergio Busquets set the pace for his team from the start and Diego Gómez worked hard in defense to promote decisive counterattacks and general attacks.
The others also responded to this high level.
The schedule that awaits Inter Miami in the coming days is devastating. On March 7, they will play in Nashville against the locals in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Then, on the 10th they will host Montreal in the MLS. Three days later, at Chase Stadium, they will face Nashville in the second leg; and three days later he will travel to Washington to face United DC in the MLS.
That is why Rosanegros coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino was very prudent, who after Messi’s second goal in the 62nd minute that made the score 5-0, began to move the bench and made the five changes at his disposal to refresh to his aces, especially Suárez, who due to his way of playing is very exposed to being hit.
Initial formations:
INTER MIAMI: Drake Callender; DeAndre Yedlin, Nicolas Freire, Tomas Aviles, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Diego Gomez, Julian Gressel, Lionel Messi (C); Luis Suárez and Robert Taylor.
DT: Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
ORLANDO CITY: Peter Gallese; Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson (C), Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Thorhallsson; Cesar Araujo, Facundo Torres, Wilder Cartagena, Ivan Angle; Martin Ojeda and Duncan McGuire.
DT: Oscar Pareja.
