Miami blew a 3-0 lead to Orlando as Messi dazzled, Ojeda took over, and MLS veered hard into disorder.
Inter Miami turned a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 loss to Orlando City, making the weekend’s loudest MLS story a full Miami collapse. Lionel Messi delivered a goal and two assists, but even that was not enough once Martin Ojeda grabbed control of the match and dragged Orlando into the spotlight. The result sharpened every familiar question around Miami.
This team remains MLS’s biggest draw, and Messi still bends games toward him, but dropped points now carry extra weight. When the glamour project wobbles, the league watches it like a stress test, not a normal bad night. Ojeda’s surge mattered because it flipped the usual frame.
Messi produced the kind of attacking line that often owns the match report, yet Orlando’s response made Miami’s star turn feel secondary. That is the edge MLS keeps offering: one marquee performance can still get swallowed by a team willing to crash the script. For Miami, the damage sits in the contrast.
A 3-0 lead should calm a match, especially with Messi directly involved in three goals. Instead, it exposed how thin control can become once momentum turns. The defeat did not erase Messi’s quality, but it did make Miami look vulnerable in exactly the way opponents will remember.
That vulnerability is the part Miami cannot dress up. Messi’s production gave them enough attacking output to win most nights, but the final score told a harsher story about match management and resistance under pressure. Orlando did not merely benefit from a loose stretch; it kept pushing until Miami’s advantage became a problem instead of protection.
For Orlando, the win carries a different charge. Beating Miami always travels farther because Messi turns the fixture into a league-wide broadcast of meaning. Ojeda stepping into that space gave Orlando more than three points in the narrative: it gave them a player performance strong enough to move the conversation away from the name everyone arrived to watch.
The weekend did not stop there. Cavan Sullivan’s fiery reaction to being substituted added a young-player edge to the temperature check, while fresh turbulence around San Diego FC kept expansion-club pressure in the frame. MLS rarely gives anyone a clean narrative, and this round leaned straight into the mess.
The implication is simple: star power can fill the frame, but it cannot tidy the league. Miami’s blown lead, Ojeda’s takeover, Sullivan’s frustration, and San Diego’s turbulence all pointed to the same thing: MLS is still built to jolt its biggest stories sideways. What's next: Miami must answer the collapse, Orlando can ride Ojeda’s statement, and the league moves into another week with its biggest names under heat. Read at The Guardian Sport
Inter Miami are not just another team dropping points. They are the league’s most visible project, with Lionel Messi turning every match into a wider MLS event. That is why a blown 3-0 lead lands harder than a routine stumble. Orlando City did more than win; Martin Ojeda seized the stage on a night when Messi still produced. Add Cavan Sullivan’s substitution reaction and San Diego FC’s turbulence, and the weekend showed the league’s current tension: young players pushing, expansion pressure rising, and star-driven attention colliding with MLS’s weekly chaos.
The Guardian Sporttheguardian.comBy Pablo Iglesias Maurer4 May, 11:15en-gb
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