Inter Miami beat Orlando City

Inter Miami breezed to victory Orlando City with a 5-0 score in their MLS fixture on Sunday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

New acquisition Luis Suarez scored a sensational brace (4′, 11′) that enabled Miami to have an early 2-0 lead, before Robert Taylor made it 3-0 in the 29th-minute.

In the second-half, the Argentine superstar dominated. Lionel Messi bagged a fabulous brace in just a six-minute span (57′, 62′). The spectators were visibly spell-bound. However, a wayward free kick by Messi went flying by and hit a baby smack on her face. The toddler, completely clueless at to what or who was responsible for the impact, was left in tears.

After his twin goals, Messi got a chance to bag a hat-trick, when Inter Miami got a free-kick outside the opposition penalty box. But the football great’s effort went wide of the post and hit a baby girl in the stands behind the goal post.

Speaking to the media post the victory, Messi said, “We’re doing well, we’re enjoying it, we’re growing. Today was an important match to win in order to continue on this path of growth.” He stated that the victory had made the team stronger for everything that is to come.

Major League Soccer: What is it?

The Major League or MLS is a men’s professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation which represents the sport’s highest level in the country. The league is currently made up of 29 teams—26 in the United States and 3 in Canada. MLS is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. 

Major League Soccer is the most recent in a series of men’s premier professional national soccer leagues established in the United States and Canada. The predecessor of MLS was the North American Soccer League (NASL) that was formed in 1968 and existed until 1984.

Major League Soccer’s regular season kicks off from late February or early March and runs till October. All the playing teams are geographically divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences, playing 34 games in an unbalanced schedule. With 29 teams in 2023, each team plays two games, home and away, against every team in its conference and one game against all but four or five of the teams in the opposite conference.