Can Inter Miami learn anything from Sunday's embarrassing loss at Orlando? | OneFootball

Mascherano: 'If we realistically want to compete, this is not the way'

Credit Orlando City; the Lions were magnificent Sunday in a 4-1 rout of arch-rival Inter Miami at Exploria Stadium. It didn't help that Los Garzas turned in their poorest performance of the year in a Sunshine Derby battle with playoff positioning as well as bragging rights at stake.

Orlando outplayed the Herons in every aspect of the game. Coach Oscar Pareja's Lions played with confidence, poise and energy; executing his game plan to near perfection (the score could have been worse if the Purple had been a smidge more efficient). Still, Orlando played well enough in Apple TV's showcase Sunday night match that a panel of Major League Soccer writers selected Pareja and strikers Luis Muriel and Martin Ojeda to the MLS Team of the Matchday; Muriel, with a brace (2', 50') and an assist, earned Player of the Matchday honors.

After the match, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano called the result "painful." He accepted blame for the loss, which he rightly deserved, but he was clearly frustrated with his players' performance -- also rightly.

“It’s very painful...if we realistically want to compete, this is not the way. I am the most responsible because I am the coach. I don’t have much else to say,” Mascherano, in his first-year managing any professional club, said. "...There was only one team on the field, Orlando. We did not play with the intensity that was needed for this game and clearly, they were superior from the first minute until the last.

“Futbol is about tactics, organization, and talent, but it’s also that in 1 v 1’s, I am better than you and having the hunger and desire, and sadly, we did not have that. It bothers me a lot.”

Even without eight-time Balon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, Inter Miami has more talent than most MLS teams. Unfortunately, the Herons played seemingly without tactics, clearly without organization and, to repeat Mascherano's phrase, sadly without hunger or desire. Messi, who missed his second full match after leaving Los Garzas' Leagues Cup match against Necaxa early with a thigh injury, couldn't have made much difference in this dismal showing.

How did Pareja undress Inter Miami? By scrapping his favored low-block defense for a high press with and cloying counter-press that played havoc with the Herons' back line and midfielders, creating multiple turnovers that transitioned quickly into opportunities for Muriel, Ojeda, Marco Pasalic and Ivan Angulo. Mascherano didn't counter until the Lions led 3-1 and the match was well over.

Defensive midfielder Yannick Bright provided Inter Miami's only highlight, charging forward on a Herons' set piece to smash the loose ball into the Lions' net with a terrific one-time volley in the fifth minute. Bright's first-ever MLS goal tied the match 1-1, and Inter Miami held Orlando scoreless the rest of the half despite the Lions' clearly dominating play.

The Purple erased any hope the Herons might have had of rallying when Muriel got his second goal in the 50th minute and Ojeda scored eight minutes later. Marco Pasalic added the final goal in the 88th minute.

Orlando (44 points) leapfrogged Miami into fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings; the Herons (41 points) dropped two places to sixth, behind Philadelphia (51 points), FC Cincinnati (49), Nashville (47), Columbus (44) and Orlando.

Can the Mascherano and the Herons learn anything from Sunday's disaster? Sure. Will they? That remains to be seen.

We'll have our first opportunity to see how the Pink responds Saturday when it hosts the L.A. Galaxy; it's unclear whether Messi will be available, but I don't expect to see him until next Wednesday, Aug. 20, when Miami hosts Tigres in a Leagues Cup quarterfinal.

As a matter of fact, I hope we don't see him Saturday. This team cannot continue to be Messi & Co.; Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Rodrigo DePaul and Luis Suarez are, or have been, world-class footballers, supplemented by one of the league's deepest and most-talented supporting casts. If this team is to reach its full potential, yes, it needs Messi, but it also needs "and company" to sharpen its mettle. How they respond this weekend will tell us a lot about this team's character and identity.