Welcome to your match thread for a Sunday night Tropic Thunder matchup between Orlando City (11-6-8, 41 points) and the team’s Publix Enemies, Inter Miami CF (12-4-6, 42 points) at Inter&Co Stadium (8 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). It’s the second of the two scheduled meetings between the sides this season.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

Orlando City is 6-5-5 in the series in all competitions, 6-4-4 in MLS play, and 2-0-4 at home in league games. Throw in a draw (with an OCSC shootout win) in U.S. Open Cup play, and the Lions are 3-0-4 at home in all competitions against Miami at home to go along with a regular-season neutral site win in Central Florida in the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament.

The most recent meeting came back on May 18 in Fort Lauderdale, when Orlando City got its first win over a Lionel Messi-led Herons side. The Lions got goals from Luis Muriel, Marco Pasalic, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson to win 3-0 at Chase Stadium.

Just about one year to the day from that meeting, the teams played to a scoreless draw at Inter&Co Stadium on May 15, 2024. The Lions’ trip to South Florida last year resulted in a forgettable 5-0 loss for the Lions at Chase Stadium on March 2. Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored braces and Robert Taylor added a goal in a match Orlando City was never in, as it was already 2-0 just 11 minutes after kickoff.

The two Florida rivals played to a 1-1 draw on Sept. 24, 2023. Duncan McGuire brought Orlando back from a 1-0 deficit after David Ruiz had given the Herons a 1-0 lead early in the second half. On Aug. 2 of that year, the teams met in Leagues Cup action. The Herons were fortunate to not see Messi sent off with a second yellow late in the first half, and even more fortunate to get a soft penalty call on Antonio Carlos, as they won, 3-1. Messi opened the scoring after being ignored in the box early. Cesar Araujo made up for his uncharacteristic defensive lapse on the first goal by scoring 10 minutes later. Josef Martinez put Miami back on top with the Downy-soft penalty just after halftime, and Messi sunk in the dagger in the final 20 minutes.

The teams also met in Fort Lauderdale in MLS play on May 20, 2023, with Orlando City winning, 3-1. Ercan Kara’s early goal was canceled out by Leonardo Campana shortly before the hour mark, but Martin Ojeda and Rafael Santos found the net in the second half to power the Lions to victory.

Inter Miami won at home, 4-1, on Oct. 5, 2022. Campana scored in the game’s first minute and Orlando City never settled in. Gonzalo Higuain added two goals — one from the spot — and Ariel Lassiter also scored before Kara pulled one back to spoil the shutout.

The first regular-season meeting of 2022 resulted in a 1-0 Orlando City win at Exploria Stadium on July 9, as a stoppage-time own goal by Damion Lowe was the difference between the Lions earning just one point or all three. The ball was sent into the box by Jake Mulraney.

The teams also met at Exploria Stadium on May 25, 2022 in U.S. Open Cup action, with the two sides needing extra time after a scoreless 90 minutes. In extra time, Miami got a goal from Jean Mota against the run of play, but Facundo Torres quickly equalized for Orlando. The match ended 1-1 and Orlando won the ensuing penalty shootout, 4-2. Bryce Duke was denied by Mason Stajduhar and DeAndre Yedlin missed the net during the spot kicks, while all four Orlando shooters scored.

The intrastate rivals played to a scoreless draw in Orlando on Aug. 27, 2021. Tesho Akindele missed a penalty in the match, but the Lions had several other good opportunities to score (but didn’t) in a wasteful performance. Orlando and Miami battled to a 1-1 draw at Exploria Stadium on Aug. 4, 2021. Carlos scored in first-half stoppage time but was knocked into concussion protocol on the play by Kelvin Leerdam. Kieran Gibbs equalized in the 66th minute on a header in front of a less-than-attentive Ruan. Akindele had a goal called back after video review for being offside and the teams split the points. Earlier in the season, the Lions came from behind in Fort Lauderdale to win 2-1 on a pair of brilliant goals by Chris Mueller and Nani on June 25, 2021.

In the final meeting of 2020, the Lions saw their 12-match unbeaten streak end on Oct. 24 in a 2-1 road loss in Fort Lauderdale. Miami defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez’s header in the 89th minute was the difference after a Daryl Dike goal and an own goal off Robin Jansson saw the game tied up at halftime. The teams met in Orlando on Sept. 12, 2020 with Orlando battling to a 2-1 win on Mauricio Pereyra’s goal. The Lions had taken the lead on an own goal by Andres Reyes. Former Lion Brek Shea tied things up in the second half, before Pereyra answered with a nice goal off the left post in the 69th minute.

The first meeting in Fort Lauderdale opened Phase 1 of Major League Soccer’s return to regular-season play after the MLS is Back Tournament. That one was an uncharacteristically sloppy match for the Lions, who fell 3-2 in Inter Miami’s first-ever home match. It was Miami’s first franchise win after an 0-5-0 start. Orlando trailed by more than one goal for the first time all season in that game. Dike and Nani provided the offense for Orlando, but Julian Carranza’s brace and Rodolfo Pizarro’s insurance goal were enough to lift the Herons.

The first Tropic Thunder match went Orlando City’s way, with Nani scoring late to lift the Lions to a 2-1 win over the upstarts from South Florida in the opening match of the MLS is Back Tournament. Despite it being a tournament match, it was also a league game. Juan Agudelo opened the scoring for the Herons, but Mueller equalized, setting the stage for Nani’s 97th-minute winner.

The Lions are coming off a dominant 5-1 destruction of Necaxa to close out the League Phase of the 2025 Leagues Cup. Orlando City won its final two games of the opening stage by a combined 8-2 margin and finished fourth, advancing to the quarterfinals. Prior to the Leagues Cup break, the Lions won their last two league games — both on the road. The most recent was a 3-1, come-from-behind stunner to beat the Columbus Crew on July 25. Orlando looked dead in the water and trailed 1-0, but Ramiro Enrique scored twice and Ojeda added an insurance goal.

However, the Lions have been far better on the road (6-2-5) than at home (5-4-3) in MLS play this season. They had blown four consecutive 1-0 leads at home prior to the win over Necaxa, going just 1-1-2 in those games, with the Lions giving up goals late in the two draws and the loss.

Inter Miami cruised through the Leagues Cup break with wins over Pumas and Atlas and a draw with a postgame penalty shootout win against Necaxa, clinching a spot in the quarterfinals along with Orlando. Tonight’s visitors beat Pumas without Messi, who picked up a knock against Necaxa on the second match day of Leagues Cup.

It doesn’t seem to matter where the Herons play, as they sport identical 6-2-3 records at home and on the road in 2025. In regular-season play, Miami last played to a scoreless draw at home against FC Cincinnati on July 26. That draw and a 3-0 loss in Cincinnati sandwiched a 5-1 beatdown win over the New York Red Bulls.

Whether Miami has Messi or not, the Lions must do what they can to limit chances, especially by paying close attention to Suarez whenever he arrives near the penalty area. Suarez has double-digit assists on the season to go along with five goals, so the Uruguayan has been hurting opponents with his passing twice as often as he has with his shooting. Telasco Segovia and Tadeo Allende each have seven goals on the season. Miami has plenty of firepower to withstand an absence by Messi, and the Herons’ formidable attack helps the team’s defense, as it is often difficult to dispossess them and maintain extended spells of possession long enough to get at Inter Miami’s back line. Orlando should look to get forward quickly in transition tonight to take advantage of the Herons pushing up in support of the attack.

It’s a rivalry game, so anything can happen.

“It will be a different situation and a different game with Inter Miami CF, but at least we have the base that we went to Miami and had a good result there and a great performance,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “Knowing that that page is in the back of our memories, now our intention is to create a new one, and hopefully here in front of our fans. That is what we are aiming for.”

The Lions will be without Joran Gerbet (thigh), Duncan McGuire (shoulder), Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), and Yutaro Tsukada (knee). Inter Miami will be without Messi (hamstring) and Drake Callender (sports hernia), while Allen Obando (hamstring) and Oscar Ustari (hamstring) are questionable.

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Alex Freeman.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Cesar Araujo, Eduard Atuesta, Marco Pasalic.

Forwards: Luis Muriel, Martin Ojeda.

Bench: Javier Otero, Zakaria Taifi, Kyle Smith, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Colin Guske, Gustavo Caraballo, Nico Rodriguez, Tyrese Spicer, Ramiro Enrique.

Goalkeeper: Oscar Ustari.

Defenders: Jordi Alba, Noah Allen, Maximiliano Falcon, Ian Fray.

Defensive Midfielders: Yannick Bright, Sergio Busquets.

Attacking Midfielders: Telasco Segovia, Rodrigo De Paul, Tadeo Allende.

Forwards: Luis Suarez.

Bench: Rocco Rios-Novo, Gonzalo Lujan, Marcelo Weigandt, David Ruiz, Baltasar Rodriguez, Federico Redondo, Tomas Aviles, Benjamin Cremaschi, Fafa Picault.

Ref: Armando Villarreal.

AR1: Cameron Blanchard.

AR2: Jeremy Hanson.

4th: Rubiel Vazquez.

VAR: Edvin Jurisevic.

AVAR: Jonathan Johnson.

Match Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the game. Go City!