Inter Miami will hope to rebound from their 4-0 thrashing to New York Red Bulls when they play host to NYCFC this Saturday night at Chase Stadium.

The Herons remain near the top of the Eastern Conference standings despite dropping two of their last three matches against Red Bulls and CF Montreal without superstar Lionel Messi.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is recovering from a hamstring injury and will miss his team’s clash with NYCFC at the weekend.

NYCFC have posted just one win in their five games played in the 2024 campaign. The lone victory came against Toronto FC a couple of weeks back and Nick Cushing’s seat continues to get warmer with each passing game they fail to take points from.

NYCFC will hope to steal a point against Miami with Messi not featuring for Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino’s side to lift themselves from 14th place in the East.

Here’s 90min’s preview of the Herons vs the Boys in Blue.

When does Inter Miami vs NYCFC kick-off?

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Stadium: Chase Stadium
Date: Saturday 30 March
Kick-off Time: 19:30 ET / 16:30 PT / 23:30 GMT

Inter Miami vs NYCFC H2H Record (Last Five Games)

Inter Miami: 1 win
NYCFC: 3 wins
Draws: 1

Last meeting: Inter Miami 1-2 NYCFC (friendly) – 10 November 2023

Current Form (all competitions)

Inter Miami

NYCFC

New York Red Bulls 4-0 Inter Miami – 23/03/2024

FC Cincinnati 1-0 NYCFC – 23/03/2024

DC United 1-3 Inter Miami – 16/03/2024

NYCFC 2-1 Toronto FC – 16/03/2024

Inter Miami 3-1 Nashville SC – 13/03/2024

NYCFC 1-2 Portland Timbers – 09/03/2024

Inter Miami 2-3 CF Montreal – 10/03/2024

St Louis CITY 2-0 NYCFC – 02/03/2024

Nashville SC 2-2 Inter Miami – 07/03/2024

Charlotte FC 1-0 NYCFC – 24/02/2024

How to watch Inter Miami vs NYCFC on TV and live stream

Country

TV channel/live stream

United Kingdom

Apple TV – MLS Season Pass

United States

Apple TV – MLS Season Pass

Canada

Apple TV +

Inter Miami team news

Messi remains unavailable due to a hamstring problem suffered in the second leg of Miami’s Champions Cup contest against Nashville SC. With other forwards like Benjamin Cremaschi and Facundo Farias out injured, the Herons’ frontline has been quite inconsistent without Messi.

Nicolas Freire is also likely to miss out as he’s still on the road to recovery from a hamstring injury. Martino will look to lean on Serhiy Kryvtsov, Tomas Aviles and Noah Allen in the meantime.

Drake Callender, Diego Gomez, David Ruiz and Federico Redondo are all expected to return on time from international duty to feature against NYCFC.

Inter Miami predicted lineup vs NYCFC

Inter Miami predicted lineup vs NYCFC (3-5-2): Callender; Aviles, Kryvtsov, Allen; Taylor, Gressel, Busquets, Gomez, Alba; Suarez, Campana.

NYCFC team news

Forward Talles Magno is set to return to training by the middle of next month as he’s still recovering from a knee injury. Cushing has relied on Hannes Wolf and Julian Fernandez to create chances from out wide while Magno has been sidelined.

Tomas Romero, Mitja Ilenic and Jovan Mijatovic are set to return to the club later this week after being on international duty with their respective El Salvador, Slovenia Under-19 and Serbia Under-19 teams.

NYCFC predicted lineup vs Inter Miami

NYCFC predicted lineup vs Inter Miami (3-4-3): Freese; Tanasijevic, Martins, Risa; Jasson, Perea, Sands, O’Toole; Fernandez, Rodriguez, Wolf.

Inter Miami vs NYCFC score prediction

Inter Miami are a force to be reckoned with at home at Chase Stadium and that theme will continue as with a win against NYCFC. The strike partnership of Leo Campana and Luis Suarez will be back among the goals against a below-average NYC defense.

With players like Redondo and Ruiz able to come off the bench to see out the win, it will be a comfortable victory in the end for Miami to stay near the top of the East while the Boys in Blue sink further down the table.

Prediction: Inter Miami 3-0 NYCFC