The Apple TV broadcast gave Maxime Crépeau’s Orlando City only a 12% chance of defeating Dayne St. Clair’s Inter Miami on Saturday. Orlando are a bottom-three side in the Eastern Conference, whereas the star-studded Miami squad are in the East’s top three. Miami also had the home-field advantage, playing their fourth match at the newly built, 26,700-seat Nu Stadium.

The odds were stacked against the visitors, but the passion of a derby can push underdogs to extraordinary feats. After falling behind 3–0, Orlando won 4–3. It was just the third time in the 31-year history of the MLS that a team has come back from a three-goal deficit to win.

Orlando turned the tables on Miami, who came from behind to win the first Florida Derby of the season as the visitors on March 1. In that game, Miami went down 2–0 before finishing as the 4–2 winners.

For Canadian fans, Saturday’s match was most intriguing for the battle between goalkeepers Crépeau and St. Clair, as one of them will be chosen to start for the national team at this summer’s World Cup. The high score, 4–3, was not ideal from a Canadian perspective, but it must be acknowledged that both Orlando and the offensively gifted Miami are leaky on defence. These teams consistently leave their keepers exposed to big scoring opportunities.

Crépeau had a sensational first half, making seven saves, and was later rewarded with a second half in which he faced no shots on target and watched teammate Tyrese Spicer nutmeg St. Clair for the win in stoppage time. Crépeau’s performance on Saturday is another indicator that he should start at the World Cup.

A Busy First Half for Crépeau

Unbelievably, Inter Miami are winless in their first four matches at Nu Stadium. Saturday’s match against Orlando was the first time they have scored the opening goal there. An unstoppable header by Ian Fray bounced off the post and into Crépeau’s net in just the fourth minute of play, and it looked like the home side were sure to get their first win at the new venue.

Crépeau, in his two Canada–Argentina matches and his previous Florida Derby, had already made fantastic saves and conceded stunning goals against the world’s greatest player, Lionel Messi. His duel with the GOAT continued on Saturday with a 20th-minute Messi free kick that he parried away.

The rebound fell to another South American legend, Luis Suárez, but Crépeau blocked Suárez’s one-timed attempt with his leg. The crafty Suárez then tried to curl a shot from a bad angle into the far top corner of the goal, but Crépeau jumped and swatted the ball away. Rodrigo de Paul, yet another South American star on Miami, collected the ball at the top of the box and shot. Crépeau palmed de Paul’s top-corner-bound strike out for a corner kick and then fist-pumped like a goal scorer. He had just completed a sequence of four saves in ten seconds.

In the 25th minute, a Messi–Suárez give-and-go led to a Messi-assisted goal by Telasco Segovia. Messi then added to Miami’s onslaught eight minutes later by curling a strike just inside Crépeau’s post. The Canadian goalkeeper had little chance to stop any of the three shots that had gotten past him.

Crépeau denied Miami’s efforts to take the score to an insurmountable 4–0 or 5–0 with spectacular diving saves in the 35th and 36th minutes, and his efforts must have been an inspiration to his team, who Apple TV was now giving a less-than-1% chance of winning. Orlando’s Martín Ojeda proved that Messi was not the only talented, left-footed Argentinian wearing the number 10 when he netted a wonder strike to make it 3–1 before halftime.

A Busy Second Half for St. Clair

After scoring his second goal with a post-and-in strike in the 68th minute, Ojeda was seeking a hat trick just five minutes later. St. Clair, however, did what he does best: closing down the shooting angle and spreading his large body to block the shot from close range.

Ojeda’s hat trick did come later, in the 79th minute. St. Clair dived the wrong way on an Ojeda penalty kick, and the two teams were level at three goals apiece.

Less than two minutes later, Ojeda broke through on goal with a chance for a fourth. But St. Clair once again closed down the angle. Ojeda’s shot bounced off the goalkeeper’s forehead and flew well outside the penalty area.

Both keepers had been excellent by this point. It was a 3–3 match that could have been 5–5, and national team coach Jesse Marsch must have been watching with a smile. Disappointment came, however, in the third minute of stoppage time, when Miami’s poor defence allowed Tyrese Spicer to break through on goal.

Unlike the two point-blank stops against Ojeda, St. Clair was positioned some six yards from the ball when Spicer struck it — in position to do more than simply make himself big. Nevertheless, the ball rolled through his legs before he reacted, and Orlando had completed their historic comeback victory.

The Crépeau–St. Clair Competition

Crépeau and St. Clair have been battling to start between the sticks for Marsch ever since the American coach took over Canada’s national team in May 2024. The margins that separate them have always been razor thin.

On Saturday, these fine margins were in favour of Crépeau, whose seven saves were more impressive than St. Clair’s five. Of the seven goals scored on the day, it was the decisive one conceded by St. Clair in the 93rd minute that looked the most saveable.

St. Clair should be outperforming Crépeau if he is going to take Canada’s starting role. The Miami keeper has fewer years of international experience and has never thrived with the national team. Crépeau, in contrast, is a composed veteran leader with whom the Canadian backline looks comfortable, and he was a star at the 2024 Copa América.

On top of his strong international résumé, Crépeau’s win on Saturday was an extra push towards him starting the all-important World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto.