Inter Miami’s record against likely MLS Cup playoffs opponents

Inter Miami have already wrapped up the Supporters’ Shield title and are now on the cusp of History. The Herons need a victory in their one remaining regular season fixture to break the single-season MLS points record.

But while that distinction would be a nice bonus, Miami’s focus is fixed firmly on MLS Cup. They have secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and now have a good idea of who their Round One opponents could be.

As it stands DC United and CF Montreal are in possession of the final two playoff berths in the East, three points ahead of both Philadelphia Union and Atlanta United. Philadelphia and Atlanta would have to win their Decision Day Games and hope that DC and Montreal lose to progress to the postseason.

Considering that Philadelphia and Atlanta take on high-flying Cincinnati and Orlando, respectively, neither are expected to leap into the Wild Card places. In short, Inter Miami look set to play the winner of DC United and CF Montreal in Round One of the playoffs.

Wild Card qualifiers looking to cause an upset

Last year St. Louis City recorded a historic debut season, topping the Western Conference and securing the No. 1 seed in the West. However their postseason journey was short-lived, falling to a Round One loss against Wild Card qualifiers Sporting Kansas City. Inter Miami will be desperate to avoid an embarrassing early exit.

With home advantage in the first and third matches of the best-of three series, Miami will be strong favourites against either DC or Montreal in Round One.

In the regular season Inter Miami picked up two wins against DC United. The first, a 3-1 victory back in March, required a late brace from substitute Luis Suarez to clinch three points on the road. In the return fixture, a 94th-minute winner from Leonardo Campana was needed to snatch a 1-0 win for the Herons.

Inter Miami and Montreal shared the points in their two regular season meetings. The Herons’ first loss of 2024 came in March when they were stunned on home turf by Montreal, falling to a 3-2 defeat. Miami did win the return leg, battling back from a two-goal deficit to secure a dramatic 3-2 win.

Round One of the MLS Cup playoffs is a best-of-three series between teams from the same conference. The No. 1 seed takes on the No. 8, the No. 2 takes on the No. 7, and so on. The higher seed, gets the home advantage in the first and third games of the three-match series. If either team wins the first two games then they advance to the next round. Beyond this point all games in the playoffs are single-match knockouts, all the way to MLS Cup on December 7.