Inter Miami faces pressure to win trophies in 2025

The Herons (5-0-3, 18 points) and Whitecaps (6-1-2, 20 points) will play the first leg of the home-and-home Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal beginning at 11:30 p.m. ET in Vancouver.

Inter Miami’s next “most important match of the season” is Thursday in Vancouver. The Herons and Whitecaps, two of the top teams in Major League Soccer, will play the first match of their home-and-home Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal at 10:30 p.m. ET at BC Place.

Vancouver forward Brian White leads the Whitecaps’ attack with six goals. PHOTO: Derek Cain/GettyImages

Why is the match so important to Miami’s season? For one, the Champions Cup is the premier competition for clubs in Central and North America and the Caribbean Islands (think a less prestigious version of Europe’s Champion’s League). Since 1960, only three U.S.-based teams — D.C. United, 1998; Los Angeles Galaxy, 2000; and Seattle Sounders, 2022 — have won the Cup; Miami and Vancouver want to be the fourth.

Secondly, Inter Miami’s ambitious owners want the Herons to be among the sport’s global brands; they have invested prodigious amounts of money to bring Lionel Messi and his former Barcelona teammates Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez to Florida to help realize those ambitions. So far, they’ve won the 2023 Leagues Cup and 2024 Supporter’s Shield, but suffered a disappointing loss to Monterrey in the Champions Cup quarterfinals and an embarrassing loss to ninth-seeded Atlanta United in the MLS Cup playoffs last year.

The “Fantastic Four” aren’t getting any younger. Inter Miami brought in a fifth Barcelona alumni, Javier Mascherano, to coach his former teammates and brought in five young South Americans to add depth to a squad that earned an MLS record 74 points last year.

Mascherano’s Herons have lost just once in 14 competitive matches this year, but Pink & Black Nation knows wins aren’t enough. Inter Miami needs trophies, plural, this year to springboard the team into a new era with the opening of Miami Freedom Park in 2026. The time is now.

Miami and Vancouver will play the second leg of the semifinals Wednesday, April 30, in Fort Lauderdale. The winner will be decided by aggregate goals; away goals are the first tiebreaker.

The Herons-‘Caps winner will play either Cruz Azul or Tigres in the one-game, winner-take-all final June 30.

• WHO: Inter Miami CF vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

• WHAT: Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal, first leg

• WHEN: 10:30 p.m. ET Thursday

• WHERE: BC Place, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

• TV: FS1, OneSoccer, (English), TUDN, ViX (Spanish)

• RADIO: Inter Miami — ESPN 106.3 FM (English), Deportes Radio 760 AM (Spanish)

• RADIO: Vancouver Whitecaps — AM730 CKNW and cknw.com (English)

Southeast Soccer Report will provide a more detailed preview of the semifinal leading up to Thursday’s match.