FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Orlando City’s path in the Leagues Cup will have to go through Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in a midweek matchup Wednesday evening at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Messi, regarded as the biggest star in the game and one of the best of all time, officially joined Inter Miami in mid-July. The Florida derby will only mark Messi’s third match for Miami.
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Orlando got a stoppage time goal from Wilder Cartagena to clinch a win over Santos Laguna on Saturday to make it to the knockout stage and round of 32.
“Very happy for the goal, as a kid you always dream of scoring goals like these, and I was very happy to be able to help the team,” Cartagena said after the match.
Wednesday’s road game for the Lions is set to start at 8 p.m. and the winner of the match will meet either FC Dallas or Mazatlán FC in the Round of 16, with the match taking place from Aug. 6-8.
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The Lions hold the all-time series lead against Miami with a 6W-3L-2D record in 11 meetings, but none of those wins came against Messi.
Orlando has its eyes on another trophy after lifting the US Open Cup in 2022, the team’s first piece of hardware for their trophy case.
“We will be ready. It was not on our mind during our preparations last week other than Santos Laguna,” Lions coach Oscar Pareja said when referencing facing Messi. “We know that you can oversee things and then start thinking ahead, but it was not in our equations, we were focused on beating Santos [Laguna]. But surely after the victory, we have to face a team [Inter Miami CF] who has been playing well. Obviously, we have to mention [Lionel] Messi. It is a wave that is bringing a lot of attention [to the league] and we’re pretty proud, but we know we know who we are. We know who we are, we going to go get that victory because our heart is prepared to do it.”
If Orlando wins against Miami, the Lions would host Mazatlán, as no Leagues Cup games will take place in Mexico this year, but the Lions would be away to Dallas due to finishing lower in the 2022 Supporters’ Shield standings.
The Leagues Cup final will take place on Aug. 19 with regular season MLS matches to resume on Aug. 20.
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