Inter Miami at New England on Sunday: Two Points From Second Place With No Margin for Error
Inter Miami travel to Gillette Stadium on Sunday night two points behind New England, with second place in the Eastern Conference on the line, one more regular-season game after this one, and the playoffs opening on November 18.
Inter Miami's regular season comes down to two games, and the first of them is the harder one. Miami visit the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium on Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern, streaming on Apple TV, sitting third in the Eastern Conference on 56 points - two behind New England's 58 - with second place and its playoff positioning directly on the line, according to the Revolution's official match preview. Head coach Cristian 'Kily' Gonzalez's message this week, as SoccerNews reported it, was that Miami no longer has any margin for error in its final two matches.
Miami arrive winless in two. Last time out they drew 2-2 with FC Cincinnati at home: Luis Suarez opened the scoring, Cincinnati answered with two goals in six minutes from Kenji Mboma Dem and Samuel Gidi, and Riquelme Fillipi rescued a point with a 90th-minute equaliser - his first goal for the club. Lionel Messi is available for selection despite picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in that game, SoccerNews reported. New England arrive in the opposite form: four straight wins, the latest a 3-2 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday sealed by Daniel Gazdag's 83rd-minute winner and two goals from Dor Turgeman, a run that has already secured the Revolution homefield advantage for Round One of the playoffs. The clubs drew 1-1 in Miami earlier this season, the first draw in eleven meetings between them.
What follows Sunday is short and fixed. Decision Day, the final day of the regular season, is November 7 - Miami close at home - and the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs begin November 18 with the Wild Card matches, with MLS Cup on December 18, according to MLSSoccer.com's playoff forecast, updated October 29. On that forecast's current picture, Miami would open Round One as the No. 3 seed against the No. 6 Philadelphia Union. A win on Sunday moves Miami past New England into second; anything less leaves the Revolution in control of the spot with one game to play.
