Martin Ojeda scored his second hat-trick in Major League Soccer (MLS) while Tyrese Spicer hunted for the winner in second-half stoppage time as visiting Orlando City bounced back from three goals down to a historic 4-3 victory over Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on Saturday evening.
Orlando became just the third team in MLS history to win a regular season match after coming from three goals behind, the first since the LA Galaxy in 2018. The improbable comeback extended Miami’s wait for a first win at the newly opened Nu Stadium to at least a fifth game after drawing the first three and losing to Florida Derby rivals.
Messi scored a goal and an assist for Miami, which snapped its 12-match unbeaten run in all competitions. Telasco Segovia also scored and assisted once, Ian Fray scored the early goal and Luis Suarez had an assist for the Herons.
But Ojeda surpassed his better-known Argentine compatriot to score his third goal in the 79th minute from the penalty spot after referee Guido Gonzalez ruled that Maximiliano Falcon had pushed down Iago Teodoro during a corner kick in Orlando.
Ojeda hesitated to get Dayne St. Clair to lunge to the right, but then finished to the left for a stunning equalizer that came 46 minutes after Messi had given Miami a three-goal lead.
In second half stoppage time, Ojeda was present as a dummy when Braian Ojeda played a through ball from deep in his own half for Spicer.
The half-time substitute finished hard and low through St. Clair’s legs to complete one of the most improbable wins in MLS history.
Ojeda’s first goal came in the 39th minute. Justin Ellis provided the final pass, but it was mainly Ojeda who made the shot himself, spinning to avoid a defender and then unleashing a ferocious left-footed strike that Clair smashed into the bottom left corner.
The second came in the 68th after Adrian Marin’s impressive slaloming run to the left. The result was similar: this time Ojeda hit the inside of the right post with a perfectly placed shot that leveled St. Clair.
Miami harassed Orlando throughout the opening hour and quickly built a three-goal lead.
In the fourth minute, after the Herons failed to clear one dangerous chance, Messi recycled the ball to the left and laid it off for Segovia, whose cross picked out Fray’s head near the box.
A Messi give-and-go with Suarez set up Sevogia in the 25th minute. And then Messi found the bottom left corner from the edge of the penalty area in the 33rd minute.
Published on May 3, 2026
