Inter Miami dropped points in painful fashion on Sunday, surrendering a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 at home to Orlando City in a result that underlined the defensive fragility lurking beneath their attacking brilliance this season. The Guardian's MLS weekend wrap reports that Orlando City became only the third side in the league's 30-year history to win a fixture after trailing by three goals.
The architect of the turnaround was Martín Ojeda, whose hat-trick drew comparisons with the most celebrated No 10 on the opposing side. Ojeda's performance was a methodical dismantling of a Miami defence that had appeared, for much of the first half, entirely comfortable.
Lionel Messi was not without contribution. The Guardian notes he scored a goal of the highest quality and added two assists, meaning Miami's problems owed nothing to a lack of individual brilliance at the top end of the pitch. At the final whistle, Messi headed directly to the dressing room without ceremony — a telling image from a man not given to public displays of frustration.
The result raises questions about Miami's capacity to manage a match when the early work has been done. Surrendering a three-goal advantage requires more than one individual to lose concentration; it points to something systemic, whether in defensive organisation, squad depth, or the difficulty of maintaining intensity once a lead feels secure. Miami have leaned heavily on individual moments to win fixtures this season, and when the weight of a match shifts, there are signs the structure behind those moments can buckle.
Orlando City, for their part, deserve credit that goes beyond the novelty of the scoreline. To recover from 3-0 down in any professional league requires a collective refusal to accept the situation, and Ojeda provided the individual thread around which that collective belief could gather. The Lions will not often produce performances of that order, but on this occasion they were exceptional.
For Miami, the challenge now is to address what happened without allowing a single result to define a broader narrative. They remain a side capable of producing moments that no other team in the league can match. Whether they can build a consistent platform around those moments is the question the rest of their season will answer.