Room For Squares: Messi Paints Florida Pink As Inter Miami Bests Orlando City 3-1 | The Heron Outlet

What do boxes have to do with Miami's 3-1 win over Orlando? Read to find out more.

photo: Inter Miami CF

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Inter Miami booked their ticket to the Leagues Cup Round of 16 with a feisty 3-1 win vs. Orlando City.

After limping through most of the MLS regular season, plagued with injuries and inadequate coaching, the club has changed overnight with the additions of Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba. 

Their latest win over in-state rivals Orlando City put a lot of fans, pundits, and clubs around the league on notice regarding Miami’s on-the-field upgrades. 

Questionable calls on the pitch aside, from a purely footballing perspective, Miami has become must-watch TV.

As they continue their hunt for Leagues Cup glory, let’s put on our thinking caps and break down tactically - once again - how the Herons were able to pull off another victory. 

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Living In A Box

Staying consistent, Tata Martino lined up Miami in a 4-3-3. Reading from left to right, Noah Allen started at left back, Kamal Miller and Serhiy Kryvtsov were the two center backs, and DeAndre Yedlin lined up at right back.

In the midfield, Benjamin Cremaschi, Busquets, and Dixon Arroyo formed the middle three.

And finally, in the front line were Robert Taylor, Josef Martinez, and Messi. 

Unlike Atlanta United, Orlando came out aggressive, with their midfield double pivot of Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena man-marking Messi (and Busquets to a lesser extent) wherever he went on the pitch. 

For the first few minutes, that strategy worked!

Miami had trouble finding Messi and Busquets as Orlando plugged every passing lane the duo tried to create. 

However, Messi is inevitable, and in the 7th minute, he caught the Orlando defense off guard with one of his trademark elusive runs to put the Herons up 1-0. 

That lead wouldn’t last long as Orlando would pull one back in the 17th minute with a scrappy set-piece goal that Miami’s backline wished they didn’t concede.

But besides that one blip defensively, on the offensive side, Martino introduced an intriguing attacking setup that we could see more often as team’s man-mark Busquets in the midfield. 

When the Herons were in their attacking half for prolonged periods of time, Miller, Kryvtsov, and the double pivot Arroyo and Busquets would form a box near or on top of the center circle. 

This square would provide numerical superiority vs. an Orlando front five that tried to disrupt the passing flow. The box also allowed Yedlin and Taylor to stay wide without sacrificing too much defensively. 

Sure, this tactical wrinkle may leave gaps open on the wings, which Orlando attempted to exploit, but the center-back pairing of Miller and Kryvstov did a phenomenal job at covering that ground when needed. 

The duo ended the match with a combined amount of 10 clearances and eight recoveries. 

For Miami, it’s a balancing act.

The fewer numbers they have in defense, the more numbers they can push up in attack. 

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a center midfielder, either. Jordi Alba even slid into the middle to make sure the vacated space was occupied:

In the end, this simple but highly effective tactic is something Miami will implement again in the future. 

It’s an exciting time for the Herons on the field. The opportunities are endless, and the scary part is they’re just getting started. 

Follow Alex Windley on Twitter/X [at] aaw_1998