Two years ago, the Leagues Cup welcomed Lionel Messi to the United States with a resounding bang, as the Argentine legend led Inter Miami to its first-ever trophy in his first competition with the club.

Now, he guns for a return to the same summit as Inter Miami face a local rival in the 2025 semifinals, hosting Orlando City at Chase Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The two Florida-based clubs make up half of an all-MLS semifinal lineup, with all Liga MX clubs failing to reach the Leagues Cup final four for the second straight year.

The Sporting News is following the Inter Miami vs. Orlando City match live, providing score updates, commentary, and analysis.

JUMP TO: Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | How to watch where you are

Inter Miami vs. Orlando City score

  Score (Pregame) Goal scorers
Inter Miami – –
Orlando City – –

Location: Chase Stadium (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)

Starting lineups:

Inter Miami (4-3-3, right to left): 19. Ustari (GK) — 17. Fray, 2. Lujan, 37. Falcon, 18. Allen — 42. Bright, 6. Busquets, 7. De Paul —10. Messi, 9. Suarez, 11. Rodriguez.

Orlando City (4-2-3-1, right to left): 1. Gallese (GK) — 30. Freeman, 15. Schlegel, 6. Jansson, 4. Brekalo — 20. Atuesta, 5. Araujo — 87. Pasalic, 10. Ojeda, 77. Angulo — 9. Muriel

📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp

Inter Miami vs. Orlando City live updates, highlights from Leagues Cup

15 mins to kickoff: Lionel Messi will have his work cut out for him against Orlando City goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. Gallese scored the decisive penalty to send Orlando City to the semifinals, shortly after saving one from Toluca’s goalkeeper.

Messi is quite familiar with Gallese, who has been the regular starting goalkeeper for Peru for the last 11 years. Messi has only scored in one game against Gallese at the national team level, when he bagged a first-half brace in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win back in 2023.

Otherwise, Messi has come up empty in the other three matches they faced off. Argentina still won three of those four meetings while they drew 0-0 in the other.

30 mins to kickoff: Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja kept things even keel ahead of this match, saying “we don’t prepare the team in any different way.

“I don’t recognize how we are going to prepare different in a league game or here, knowing as a professional we have to push as hard as we can every single minute of our career.”

No nonsense from the boss ahead of this one. Pareja has received some criticism for failing to get Orlando City over the hump into a bona fide MLS title contender in his time at the club, but he has largely been successful against his Florida rivals in his career. A Leagues Cup crown could certainly give Pareja some tangible credibility moving forward, just as winning the 2022 U.S. Open Cup did for him.

45 mins to kickoff: For Orlando City, their lineup is entirely business as usual. USMNT starter Alex Freeman, who is son of former NFL player Antonio Freeman, starts at right-back after being called up by Mauricio Pochettino to the September U.S. squad.

They have been without talisman Duncan Maguire, who has been missing since suffering a shoulder injury in May, but he is a welcome presence on the bench as the club is desperate to get his goal scoring prowess back to full strength.

1 hour to kickoff: The Inter Miami lineup is in, and Lionel Messi STARTS! It certainly felt things were trending in that direction, but there was never a certainty that he would be included from the beginning of the match. It’s a huge boost for Inter Miami, who have Messi on hand for the first time in their three matches against Orlando City this season.

Also in the XI is Jordi Alba, while new signing Baltasar Rodriguez earns the start opposite Messi out wide left. It’s just the second start for Rodriguez since joining the club on loan from Racing in March.

1 hour 15 mins to kick: Adding to the fuel in tonight’s rivalry is the fact that Orlando City have blown Inter Miami out twice this season, with 3-0 and 4-1 wins helping them to a fifth-place spot in the Eastern Conference standings, one place above Inter Miami.

Lionel Messi did not play in either of those games, and he is expected to play tonight. The Leagues Cup has billed this as “the most important Florida derby to date” and many in the media have echoed that. It’s certainly the biggest stage they’ve matched up!

1 hour 30 mins to kick: Since the club’s inception, Inter Miami have played Orlando City the second-most of any club, with the two clashing 17 times throughout their history. Orlando City have been kings of the Florida derby, winning nearly half of those matches, a record of eight victories, four draws, and five defeats.

Yet Inter Miami won the only previous Leagues Cup meeting, defeating Orlando City 3-1 in the group stage of the 2023 tournament, which the Herons would later go on to lift the trophy. Orlando did win a penalty shootout in their first-ever knockout matchup, coming in the 2022 U.S. Open Cup Round of 16.

1 hour 45 mins to kick: Sergio Busquets has floated retirement of late, but today he will reach a milestone, becoming the fifth Inter Miami player to reach 100 all-time appearances for the club if he takes the field!

2 hours to kickoff: We are on Messi-watch ahead of this Leagues Cup fixture, like we are seemingly every Inter Miami match these days. The 38-year-old’s hamstrings have lacked cooperation as he continues his career in the United States, and problems have flared up yet again in recent weeks.

It does feel likely that Messi, and his teammate Jordi Alba, will be available for this match. The question seems largely around whether he will be fit enough to start or if he will be left to come in late off the bench.

Inter Miami vs. Orlando City kick off time

This Leagues Cup semifinal kicks off from Chase Stadium on Wednesday, August 27 at 8:30 p.m. local time in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories around the globe:

  Date Kickoff time
USA/Canada Wed, Aug. 27 8:30 p.m. ET
USA/Canada Wed, Aug. 27 5:30 a.m. PT
UK Thu, Aug. 28 1:30 a.m. BST
Australia Thu, Aug. 28 10:30 a.m. AEST
India Thu, Aug. 28 5 a.m. IST

Inter Miami vs. Orlando City lineups, team news

Lionel Messi picked up a hamstring injury in the league phase, and while he returned to MLS action briefly, the injury flared up and left him sidelined again, missing the quarterfinal. However, both he and Jordi Alba, who picked up a knee injury during the quarterfinal victory, have recovered in time to start tonight’s match.

Head coach Javier Mascherano is suspended for this match after being shown a red card in the quarterfinal win over Tigres.

The boss decided to rest a number of regular starters for the weekend’s 1-1 draw with D.C. United on Saturday, including Sergio Busquets, Rodrigo de Paul, and Luis Suarez, all of whom came off the bench, but all three key players return to the starting XI here. New signing Baltasar Rodriguez gets just his second start for the club since joining on loan from Racing in March.

Inter Miami starting lineup (4-3-3): Ustari (GK) — Fray, Lujan, Falcon, Alba — Bright, Busquets, De Paul — Messi, Suarez, B. Rodriguez.

Inter Miami subs: Novo (GK), Yarbrough (GK), Weigandt, Sailor, Aviles, Allen, D. Ruiz, Cremaschi, Segovia, Morales, Picault, Allende.

Orlando City have felt the loss of striker Duncan McGuire, who has been out still with a shoulder injury suffered in late May, but he surprisingly returns to the matchday squad with a welcome spot on the bench.

Head coach Oscar Pareja rotated a few players in the damaging 5-1 loss at Nashville over the weekend, but the likes of Alex Freeman, Luis Muriel, and Marco Pasalic should return to the lineup. Muriel had an eventful 16 minutes off the bench in the Nashville defeat, scoring a goal before being sent off. He will be available for this Leagues Cup match before serving a suspension in upcoming MLS action for the red card.

They are down in midfield as Peruvian veteran Wilder Cartagena has missed the entire season with an Achilles tear.

Orlando City starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Gallese (GK) — Freeman, Schlegel, Jansson, Brekalo — Atuesta, Araujo — Pasalic, Ojeda, Angulo — Muriel.

Orlando City subs: Mercado (GK), Otero (GK), Enrique, Gerbet, Guske, Marin, McGuire, Rodriguez, Smith, Spicer, Taifi, Thorhallsson.

Inter Miami vs. Orlando City live stream, TV channel

Here is how to watch the match in some of the world’s major regions:

Share this post

Subscribe to our newsletter

Keep up with the latest blog posts by staying updated. No spamming: we promise.
By clicking Sign Up you’re confirming that you agree with our Terms and Conditions.

Related posts