Sporting Kansas City will travel down to south Florida to take on Inter Miami on September 9 at DRV PNK Stadium for the first time ever.
The rest of the league will be watching to see how the Herons get on without a certain Lionel Messi in the side. Miami could have a tough game on their hands as they’ll be without several key players due to the international break, and head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino will look to lean on veterans Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.
The Herons, with 25 points in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings, are still aiming to qualify for the playoffs, so they won’t be taking this game with Sporting KC lightly by any means. Kansas City have amassed 32 points in 2023 and sit in 11th place in the Western Conference table as they’ll also be gunning to finish in a playoff spot come October.
Will Miami be able to pull off three points without Messi, or will Kansas City leap into a playoff spot with an upset win in south Florida?
This will be the first ever meeting between the two sides, as Miami’s inaugaral MLS season was in 2020.
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Although there are no fresh injury concerns for Miami and Martino, they’ll still be without several key players due to the ongoing international break.
As mentioned previously, Messi will not be able to take part in the MLS Matchday 31 clash, as well as Josef Martinez (Venezuela), Benjamin Cremaschi (USMNT), Drake Callender (USMNT), Diego Gomez (Paraguay), Serhiy Kryvstov (Ukraine), Robert Taylor (Finland) and David Ruiz (Honduras).
But Martino will still have the likes of Busquets and Dixon Arroyo to lean on in the middle of the park. Tomas Aviles will likely partner Kamal Miller in the backline, and Leonardo Campana, Facundo Farias and Robbie Robinson should get opportunities in attack.
Inter Miami predicted lineup vs Sporting Kansas City ( 4-3-3 ): Marsman, Yedlin, Aviles, Miller, Jordi Alba; Arroyo, Busquets, Ulloa; Robinson, Campana, Farias.
Three SKC players will miss out due to a hamstring injury, as veteran Graham Zusi, Kayden Pierre and Stephen Afrifa are all set to be back for action near the end of the month.
Kortne Ford’s Achilles tendon injury sees him out of action until late September, while an ankle injury has sidelined Gadi Kinda until early October. SKC has just one player sent out on international duty, as Marinos Tzionis will suit up for Cyprus during the break.
But the Herons will need to watch out as Designated Player Alan Pulido is back to his goalscoring ways.
Despite losing so many player to the international break, the Herons could still go on to win this one. But given their defensive shakiness and being without Kryvstov and Callender, the visitors might just have enough cracks at goal to make this a wild/back-and-forth contest.
Miami will more than likely turn up at home with Campana and Farias leading the way, but a draw could be on the cards between the two sides.
Prediction: Inter Miami 2-2 Sporting Kansas City
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