As the Major League Soccer playoff picture stands heading into Decision Day, Inter Miami and Nashville SC project to face each other in the first round of the playoffs.
The two sides will meet on Saturday night in Nashville in what could be a preview of that best-of-three series, although the outcome of the regular-season finale could alter the upcoming slate.
Inter Miami (18-7-8, 62 points) sit in third place in the Eastern Conference, tied on points with FC Cincinnati, who own the total-wins tiebreaker. However, if Miami ends up with more points than Cincinnati, it can still move up to the No. 2 seed.
Nashville (16-11-6, 54 points) sits in sixth place but could see its position fluctuate significantly depending on the results of the Saturday matches. Nashville could still move up as high as the No. 4 seed in the conference or fall as far as No. 8, which would drop the Boys in Gold into the wild-card match against the No. 9 seed.
Nashville SC are coming off a two-week hiatus since a 1-1 draw with CF Montreal that followed winning their first U.S. Open Cup championship. Led by Sam Surridge’s 23 goals, Nashville has scored a club-record 56 goals this season.