MIAMI — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will host first-place Nashville SC at Nu Stadium in a rivalry rematch that carries major Eastern Conference implications, with the Herons sitting nine points behind the Coyotes in the standings.
Messi leads MLS with 31 goal contributions — 18 goals and 13 assists — as he eyes a third straight Landon Donovan MLS MVP award. Inter Miami’s offense has produced a league-best 59 goals this season, and the club sits second in the Eastern Conference with 44 points on a 12-4-8 record.
Nashville enters the match atop the East with 53 points and a 16-3-5 record, on a record-breaking points pace that could make the Coyotes the first team to clinch a spot in the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs. Sam Surridge leads Nashville’s attack with 13 goals and one assist, while 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar has contributed 10 goals and seven assists. Argentine playmaker Cristian Espinoza, a foundational winter signing, is tied for the second-most assists in MLS with 11 during his debut season with the Coyotes.
Inter Miami played to a 1-1 draw at Chicago Fire FC on Wednesday night in front of a record crowd of 63,094 fans at Soldier Field. Marquee summer signing Casemiro — deployed as a center back — cancelled out Robert Lewandowski’s opener with his third goal in as many games, extending the Herons’ unbeaten streak to three straight matches. Luis Suárez has added 12 goals and eight assists, producing double-digit goals in each of his three seasons with the club. Rodrigo De Paul, a 2022 FIFA World Cup winner with Argentina, anchors the midfield.
Nashville’s six-game unbeaten streak ended Wednesday with a 2-1 loss at Toronto FC’s BMO Field, where late goals from Dániel Sallói and Emilio Aristizábal — the latter scoring in the 93rd minute — overcame an early own goal forced by the Coyotes. Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake has earned an All-Star nod and generated USMNT buzz during a breakout season as the club’s No. 1.
The stakes extend beyond the standings. Inter Miami will look to avenge last month’s 4-1 loss to Nashville and an earlier elimination from the Concacaf Champions Cup, while the Coyotes are chasing Miami’s single-season points record of 74. Inter Miami are favored at home with 51% of the betting market compared to 28% for Nashville, according to odds current as of Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.