Messi, Inter Miami aim to close gap on Nashville in Eastern Conference showdown

Inter Miami admin September 11, 2026 0 Comments

Messi, Inter Miami aim to close gap on Nashville in Eastern Conference showdown

Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates aim to shrink Nashville SC’s lead in the Eastern Conference on Saturday in a marquee home game being billed by MLS as the Walmart Saturday Showdown.

The match at Nu Stadium has major implications for the conference and Supporters’ Shield races. Miami dominated the series against Nashville since Messi’s arrival in 2023, but Nashville has been a thorn in Miami’s side this season. Miami looks to avenge last month’s 4-1 loss at Nashville and elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup by Nashville earlier this year.

Nashville has been the team to beat this season, sitting nine points ahead of Miami with 53 points and on pace to break Miami’s single-season points record (74) with 10 games remaining in the regular season.

Inter Miami has been stuck in a rut of late with just one win over the past eight games. The team is coming off back-to-back ties against Atlanta and Chicago. Messi was held scoreless in both of those matches.

The Chicago game on Wednesday, played in front of a record crowd of 63,000-plus at Soldier Field, ended in a 1-1 draw. Casemiro scored a headed goal off a Messi corner kick for the third game in a row, but it was not enough.

“It hurts because last game we dropped two points, this game we dropped another two points, could have been so much closer, the overall feeling is that it’s a loss, but it’s football,” said midfielder Yannick Bright. “It was an away game with a tough opponent, and we know we could have done better. We should be locked in from the first minute and not start playing after we concede. It’s a common theme for the whole season.”

Although Inter Miami boasts the league’s top scorer in Messi (18 goals) and most potent offense with 59 goals, the team’s shaky defense has conceded the fifth-most goals in the East.

With 39-year-olds Messi and Luis Suarez leading the attack and not as likely to race back to defend, Inter Miami has been exposed in transition by teams with more speed. Miami’s offense, which lacks speed in the final third and relies more on possession and short passes, has also sputtered at times when opponents clog the passing lanes to Messi.

The club made a coaching change two weeks ago, hiring Argentine Kily Gonzalez to replace interim coach Guillermo Hoyos, but Gonzalez has not been able to join the team because he is waiting for his work visa. That is also the case for new signees Riquelme Filippi (Brazil) and Matias Galarza (Argentina).

In the meantime, Hoyos remains in charge.

He expects a difficult challenge on Saturday.

“The league race is very difficult and teams are even, you could see that with Toronto [beating Nashville 2-1 on Wednesday],” he said. “You have to compete game by game. You can’t think about what will happen in the future because nobody knows. This is a very important game for us and I think our team will be ready.”

Nashville was riding a six-game unbeaten streak before the midweek loss to Toronto.

Its attack is led by the Designated Player trio of Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and Cristian Espinoza.

Mukhtar, the 2022 MLS MVP, has 10 goals and seven assists. Sam Surridge is Nashville’s top scorer with 13 goals and Argentine midfielder Cristian Espinoza is tied for second-most assists in MLS with 11. Tunisian World Cup player Elias Saad has made an immediate impact.

Inter Miami has been hampered by a rash of injuries, but is starting to get a few players back. Sergio Reguilon (hamstring), Gonzalo Lujan (calf), Micael (ankle) and Santi Morales (quad) trained with the rest of the team on Friday.

Mateo Silvetti underwent surgery on his left shoulder to address the dislocation he sustained last week during the game against Atlanta United. He is out indefinitely.

Saturday’s game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown on Apple TV.