Orlando City (9-4-7, 34 pts) will take part in Heineken Rivalry Week this Friday night, taking on Florida foes Inter Miami CF (6-9-4, 22 pts) at Exploria Stadium. The game will be nationally televised at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Local radio coverage will be available from 8 p.m. on FM 96.9 the Game in English and Acción 97.9 FM and 810 AM in Spanish.
Here’s everything you need to know about Inter Miami:
Key Transactions and Player News
Key Additions - Head Coach Phil Neville (England Women), DM Gregore (Bahia), CB Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City), RB Kelvin Leerdam (Seattle Sounders), LW/LB Joevin Jones (Seattle Sounders), LB Kieran Gibbs (West Brom), GK Nick Marsman (Feyenoord), F Indiana Vassilev (Aston Villa)
Key Departures - GK Luis Robles (retirement), CB Andrés Reyes (New York Red Bulls), DM Wil Trapp (Minnesota United), F Juan Agudelo (Minnesota United)
Player News - Inter Miami’s season has turned around over the past month, in large part due to the play of DP attacking midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro. Since returning from Gold Cup duty at the beginning of August, Pizarro has three goals and an assist, including a stoppage time winner against Chicago on August 18 and a brace against Toronto FC on August 21. The Mexican international was named MLS Player of the Week for the latter performance and was just added to the MLS All-Star squad.
Take a look at Miami’s full roster here.
Team Form
Sitting at the bottom of the East after a 2-8-2 start, Inter Miami have rallied back into contention, going 4-1-1 in their past six games. Miami have been buoyed not just by Pizarro, but by young forwards Robbie Robinson and Indiana Vassilev, each of whom has scored twice over Miami’s past four games. There is a caveat, though – all of Miami’s wins over this stretch have come at home. The Herons have gone 0-4-1 in their past five away games.
Head-to-Head
Orlando and Miami played to a draw for the first time in their six meetings earlier this month, as Antonio Carlos’ opener on the stroke of halftime was canceled out by a Kieran Gibbs goal in the second half. Orlando City won the teams’ other match earlier this year, a 2-1 victory spearheaded by Nani. The captain assisted Chris Mueller’s equalizer before winning the match with an outside-the-box beauty in the 80th minute.
RasmussenUniversity Fact
Both Orlando City and Inter Miami have only one MLS loss since July 25. Both came in the same place, at Yankee Stadium against NYCFC.
