This Saturday, the two teams that sit outside of the Major League Baseball playoffs, Miami International and Kansas City, will meet for the first time to battle for three points.
The Miami Internationals remain eight points behind the playoff line in the Eastern Conference after a 3-1 win over Los Angeles Football Club. Kansas City, meanwhile, is now just two points behind Dallas for the playoffs after a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Western Conference seeded team St. Louis City.
In the Mai Internationals, the new additions are starting to make an impact, but they still have 9 games to play and need to outlast 5 teams, something that might be difficult for even Messi to do. However, we are talking about Messi, who has been putting on superhuman performances ever since he stepped onto a soccer field. Since his arrival in Fort Lauderdale, this team has won a trophy (the League Cup) and maintained an 11-game unbeaten streak in all competitions.
Prior to starting their Confederations Cup campaign, the Miami Internationals had not won in 11 consecutive MLS matches, including a seven-game losing streak from May 17th to June 24th. Considering their current performance and the impact that the arrivals of Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba have had on the team, one can't help but wonder what the state of this team would have been like if these players had been with Miami International since the beginning of the season, especially knowing that they've already lost nine games this year.
Kansas City hasn't been as spectacular as the Miami Internationals, but they are slowly making their way back toward the playoffs and have now won two games in a row, the third time they've done so in this MLS season. If they win another game on Saturday, they could not only go over the playoff line, but also win three straight for the first time since October 2022.
From the start of May through now, Kansas City is second in the league in goals scored (33), and they have scored just three goals in their first 10 games of the 2023 domestic season. Kansas City has only scored multiple goals in two domestic road games this year, but if they score two more this weekend, this team will reach the milestone of 500 total road goals in the MLS regular season.
In team news, Miami International could be without Corentin Jean, Franco Negri and Ian Frei, all of whom could miss this weekend's game due to ACL injuries, while Gregory is still recovering from a metatarsal ligament injury. As for Kansas City, it remains unclear whether Graham Zusi, Stephen Alfalfa or Kaiden Pierre will be able to play, all of whom have suffered hamstring strains, while Cortney Foote is out for the season after an Achilles injury in February.
Overall, while Mai International is missing Lionel Messi, they still have some good players, but not having Yedlin or Callander may make it difficult for them to hold off a balanced Kansas City offense. With Kansas City playing well so far, they should be just as scrappy as Mai International this weekend, and with most of their lineup in place, we expect them to have the upper hand on Saturday. So, our predicted match result is a 2-1 win for Kansas City over Mai International.
