Miami's road to the Club World Cup begins on Thursday as they travel to face Nashville SC in the round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions Cup. Thanks to winning the Leagues Cup last season, the Herons earned automatic qualification for the round of 16 where they'll now be tasked with a two-legged tie against the team that they defeated to win the Leagues Cup, Nashville SC. With two wins and a draw in their first three matches of the season, the Herons are off to a flying start but this is a competition that will define them and is far away their most important.
Golazo Starting XI Newsletter
Get your Soccer Fix from Around the Globe
Your ultimate guide to the Beautiful Game as our experts take you beyond the pitch and around the globe with news that matters.
Thanks for signing up!
Keep an eye on your inbox.
Sorry!
There was an error processing your subscription.
Dominated by Liga MX, only one MLS side has won the Concacaf Champions Cup before which was the Seattle Sounders in 2022. If Miami can follow in their footsteps, it will put them into the Club World Cup.
Here are our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Thursday, March 6 | Time: 9 p.m. ET
- Location: GEODIS Park -- Nashville, Tennessee
- TV: FS2 | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
- Odds: Nashville SC +201; Draw +260; Inter Miami +105
Storylines
Nashville SC: Hany Mukhtar may be set to sign a new contract with Nashville but he is a doubt for this match after leaving the Champions Cup match against Moca FC at halftime with an injury. He has yet to feature in an MLS match for Nashville and if he's not able to take part in the match, it's quite a blow to Gary Smith's gameplan. A team can't bunker and expect to contain Miami which is where this tie that should be close could get out of hand.
Inter Miami: What a start to the season that Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are having. Each has been involved in five or more goals in only three games played as Miami's attack has been hard to stop. It will be interesting to see how the defense shakes out as DeAndre Yedlin has been traded to FC Cincinnati without a replacement being added yet so Julian Gressel may need to move out of midfield to operate as a wing back in the match. Away goals matter in the Champions Cup so it's important for Miami to score as many goals as possible to avoid the need to shut Nashville out at home.
Prediction
Inter Miami will roll through this match if Mukhtar can't feature leading to quite a victory for the Herons as Suarez and Messi will both get on the score sheet. Pick: Nashville 0, Inter Miami 2
