Wednesday, April 9 | 5:00 p.m. PT
🏟: Chase Stadium - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
đź–Ą: FS1, TUDN, ViX
đź“»: 710 AM ESPN
With a berth in the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals on the line, LAFC travels to South Florida to take on Inter Miami CF in the deciding match of their two-game, total-goal Quarterfinal series.
LAFC leads the series on aggregate, one goal to zero, by virtue of its 1-0 victory at BMO Stadium on April 2.
Concacaf Champions Cup’s “away goals” tiebreaker means that if LAFC scores one goal in Florida on Wednesday night, Inter Miami will need to score at least three to advance to the Semifinals. If LAFC and Miami are tied 1-1 on aggregate goals at the end of regulation, the match will continue into two 15-minute periods of extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout.
The winner of this series will face either Vancouver Whitecaps FC or Pumas UNAM of Mexico’s Liga MX. Those two quarterfinalists tied 1-1 in their first leg last week and will play again Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. PT in Mexico City.
HOW WE GOT HERE
BMO Stadium was abuzz last Wednesday as a sold-out crowd watched LAFC’s youngest starter, LAFC Academy product Nathan Ordaz, unlock a tense, scoreless tie by tallying the game’s only goal in the 57th minute to give LAFC the win and 1-0 aggregate edge.
A native of LA’s San Fernando Valley, Ordaz has scored in his last two Champions Cup appearances, including his half-volley into the Columbus net on March 4, which gave LAFC a crucial 3-0 edge over the Crew headed into their second leg, where LAFC advanced. At 21 years, 80 days old, Ordaz is the youngest MLS player to ever score in two straight CCC appearances.
Igor Jesus, just 10 months older than Ordaz, held down the defensive midfield for LAFC last Wednesday and – along with fellow midfielders Mark Delgado, Timmy Tillman, and Odin Holm – was critical in handing Miami its first defeat of 2025 in any competition. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made three saves to record his sixth clean sheet of 2025 in all competitions.
Miami’s Lionel Messi took two threatening free kicks in the first half, but one sailed high and the other was saved by Lloris, the French World Cup winner who faced the Argentina captain in the 2022 World Cup Final.
“Obviously, they have a lethal attack with Messi, [Luis] Suarez, and [Sergio] Busquets in there dictating play,” said LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead. “They’re as good as it gets in this league. We tried to frustrate them by clogging spaces in the middle. We limited their chances. We have to do that again next week in Miami.”
Busquets, Miami’s star midfielder and metronome, is suspended for Leg 2 and will not play due to yellow card accumulation.
LEG TWO
Without Busquets, Miami will lean on defensive midfielders Yannick Bright and Federico Redondo to fill in for one of the best to ever play the position.
Miami and LAFC are both coming off difficult matches in MLS play, with LAFC falling on the road to Houston over the weekend, 1-0, and Miami drawing at home against Toronto, 1-1. Each manager handled his roster differently in those matches headed into Wednesday’s CCC knockout match.
Miami’s Javier Mascherano played Messi and star fullback Jordi Alba for all 90 minutes against Toronto after each man had gone the distance against LAFC four nights earlier. Suarez, the legendary striker who played with Messi, Alba, Busquets, and Mascherano at Barcelona, played 90 minutes against LAFC and 69 against Toronto.
In Houston, meanwhile, LAFC made eight changes to the starting XI that had faced Miami, sitting everyone except Lloris, forward Denis Bouanga, and center back Eddie Segura. (Jesus was serving a one-game suspension.) Those three were the only LAFC players who played the entirety of both matches.
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP
Now in its 60th year, Concacaf Champions Cup is this region's premier men’s club competition. The 2025 edition began in early February with a field consisting of the 27 top clubs in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Clubs contest two-game, total-goal series consisting of a home and an away leg until the last two remaining reach the tournament Final.
The CCC Final is scheduled for June 1 and will be decided in a single match. LAFC reached the Concacaf Champions Cup Final in both of its previous CCC appearances (2020, 2023).
BY THE NUMBERS
2 -- Two years ago this week, LAFC advanced past Vancouver and into the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals with a 3-0 win at BMO Stadium. Bouanga drew a penalty that led to LAFC’s first goal; he assisted on LAFC’s third.
3 -- LAFC is 3W-1L-0D in all competitions against Inter Miami with all three wins coming via shutout.
13 -- Bouanga and Tillman each played in his 13th Champions Cup game last week. If either plays in Leg 2, he will move past Diego Palacios and Carlos Vela into first place for the most CCC appearances in LAFC history.
LAFC CAN ADVANCE IF
It scores a goal. “LAFC wants to win everything,” as GM and Co-President John Thorrington often says. Winning this match, however—scoring more goals than Miami does Wednesday night—is not the priority. An LAFC goal at any point would stand to change the picture drastically. For example, if Miami and its vaunted attack is holding a 2-0 lead late in the match and LAFC knocks one in, LAFC advances to the Semis and Miami’s CCC journey is over.
As for how LAFC will score that goal, the absence of Busquets will help. Consistent and choreographed pressure (and counter-pressure) on Miami’s back line would also increase the odds, as would creative link-up play and combinations amongst LAFC’s attackers. Miami, which has conceded one or zero goals in 10 of its 12 games this season (all comps), will gird itself against LAFC’s strength: its counterattack.
INTER MIAMI CAN ADVANCE IF
It breaks down an LAFC defense that has recorded six clean sheets in its 12 total matches in 2025. LAFC not only handed Miami its first defeat of 2025, it held the Herons scoreless for the first time, as well.
The Black & Gold defense – whose core will likely include center backs Aaron Long and Marlon Wednesday night – found success against the Herons in Leg 1 by building a low mid-block and contesting every pass and every dribbling run Miami attempted in LAFC’s half. It also surrounded the ultimate escape artist, Messi, with black and gold shirts each time he touched the ball. Look for the same approach in Leg 2.
