De Paul makes MLS debut with Inter Miami in painful loss to Orlando

Rodrigo de Paul experienced a painful welcome to MLS. The Argentine midfielder made his American debut in a 4-1 drubbing against Orlando City in an intense Florida derby. The absence of Lionel Messi, who is still recovering from injury, was noticeable at Inter&Co Stadium.

In the absence of the Argentine legend, Luis Muriel was the star of the night. The Colombian striker scored twice, one right at the start of the game (2') and the other just five minutes after the break (50'), putting Inter behind. Rounding out the thrashing were Argentine Martin Ojeda (58') and Croatian Mario Pasalic (88').

Inter Miami seemed to respond well to Muriel's early goal, and just three minutes after the strike, Italian Yannick Bright managed to temporarily bring the scoreboard level. However, Inter suffered from Messi's second straight absence. Coach Javier Mascherano hopes to have Messi back from his muscle injury for the Leagues Cup quarterfinals on Aug. 20 against Mexican side Tigres.

Mascherano: "Today there was only one team"

De Paul, a brand-new signing for the team coached by Javier Mascherano, played his first MLS game after making his debut in the pink jersey in three Leagues Cup matches.

"Today there was only one team. We didn't play with the intensity that was needed this match and we were outplayed from the first to the last minute," said Mascherano at a press conference in which he was highly critical of his players' attitude.

We are "very hurt and very worried. If we really want to compete this is not the way," the Argentine coach warned. "As the leader of this group, it hurts me a lot to put out the image we did today."

Miami drops to sixth place with loss

The loss drops Miami down a notch to sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 42 points. However, the team has played three fewer games than conference leader Philadelphia Union, which has 51 points.

Orlando, fourth with 44 and also qualified for the Leagues Cup playoffs, got its win on track 95 seconds into the game when veteran Muriel raced through the heart of the visiting defense, received a pinpoint assist from Ojeda and fired a shot under the legs of Argentine goalkeeper Oscar Ustari.

Just three minutes later, Bright leveled the score with his first goal in a Miami jersey, a blistering volley from the edge of the box.

A match full of hard tackles 

After the half-hour mark, the match became muddied with a succession of harsh tackles that resulted in the referee showing five yellow cards before halftime.

De Paul, who put in a drab performance, tried his luck with a deflected shot from outside the area early in the second half.

The game then swung Orlando's way with goals from Muriel, an individual effort from a corner kick, and Ojeda, with a powerful shot at the near post. The party in Orlando was complete when Mario Pasalic took advantage of the passivity of the Inter defense to score the fourth goal for the squad coached by Colombian Oscar Pareja.

Cincinatti's defeat and NY Red Bulls' victory

In other MLS matchday 26 results, FC Cincinnati, second-placed in the East, lost 1-0 at home to Charlotte with a solitary goal by Ivorian Wilfried Zaha. In the 85th minute, the former Crystal Palace star scored off a rebound in the box with a flashy volley that went in tight at the near post.

Meanwhile, the New York Red Bulls, the league's reigning runners-up, beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 with a brace from Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting. The Cameroonian missed a penalty kick in the 84th minute witha failed Panenka that went right into the hands of Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael Cabral. However, he redeemed himself by scoring the winning goal, also from a penalty, in the ninth minute of stoppage time.