Inter Miami falls at at Nashville, 2-1, must win Game 3 to avoid playoff exit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The rain came down sideways and the temperature dipped from the 50s to the 40s, but up in a second-deck corner of the GEODIS Park, in Section 233, a group of about 60 spirited Inter Miami La Familia supporters chanted and jumped up and down as Leo Messi and his teammates played for club history.

Inter Miami faced Nashville SC for the third time in 15 days, and this one had the most at stake. Team owners David Beckham and Jorge and Jose Mas flew up with their families for the occasion, planning to celebrate as they did on that field two years ago after winning the Leagues Cup final.

Instead, the Inter Miami owners and their rain-soaked fans headed home disappointed after a 2-1 loss, forcing a decisive Game 3 next Saturday in Fort Lauderdale in the Best-of-3 first-round playoff series.

Miami had won the first game, so a victory Saturday night would have advanced Miami to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time in team history. Messi, frustrated all night, cranked a shot into the top right corner in the 89th minute to give Miami hope, but it was not enough.

The Inter Miami fans cheered loudly early on, but their party was short-lived.

Their mood dampened in the ninth minute, when Sam Surridge converted a penalty kick to give the home team a 1-0 lead. The Nashville forward was awarded the PK after Miami goalkeeper Rocco Rios Novo hesitated coming off his line and was called for a foul.

Nashville fans erupted with Surridge’s goal and yellow smoke filled the air. Then, just before halftime, Josh Bauer beat Miami defenders in the box and scored off a Hany Mukhtar corner kick to put Nashville ahead 2-0.

Miami was favored to win Saturday’s game after beating Nashville twice over the past two weeks by a combined score of 8-3. Messi and his teammates won 5-2 on the road in final game of the regular season and 3-1 at home last weekend in Game 1 of the playoffs.

Going back further, Inter Miami was 7-0-2 over Nashville since Messi’s arrival in the summer of 2023. The most memorable victory was the 2023 Leagues Cup final, which went to a penalty-kick shootout at GEODIS Park.

But Nashville dominated Miami during stretches of recent games and Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano spent all week warning his players that they should expect an aggressive, dangerous Nashville team on Saturday.

He was right.

The night began with a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner by the War and Treaty duo and a ceremony commemorating Nashville’s first U.S. Open Cup trophy. For the first 45 minutes of the game, the yellow-clad Nashville faithful continued to celebrate while Miami fans were left hoping things would turn around.

Last season, Inter Miami entered the playoffs as the top seed with the best record in Major League Soccer. They beat Atlanta United in the opening game of the playoffs, but lost the next two and were eliminated, falling far short of expectations.

Mascherano and his players have been saying for weeks that they would not allow that to happen this time around. Now, they find themselves in the same situation they were after Game 2 last year. They are one loss from another first-round elimination.

Mascherano went with the same starting lineup he used the past two weeks against Nashville: Rios-Novo, Ian Fray, Jordi Alba, Noah Allen, Maxi Falcon, Sergio Busquets, Rodrigo De Paul, Baltasar Rodriguez, Tadeo Allende, Luis Suarez and Messi.

Nashville dominated the first half with four shots on goal to zero for Inter Miami. Two weeks ago, on this very same field, Miami trailed 2-1 at halftime and came back to score four unanswered goals to win 5-2.

Desperate to score, Mascherano made one halftime change, replacing center back Allen with midfielder Telasco Segovia. Then, at the 52-minute mark, Mateo Silvetti went in for Rodriguez.

“We were here two weeks ago for the last game of the regular season, and we’re here again to help our team get the job done,” said J.C. Wizel, 44, of Davie, a member of the Inter Southern Legion fan group who flew in for the game with his wife, Maria.

The Wizels are longtime South Florida soccer fans since the Miami Fusion days in the late 1990s and they wanted to be on hand for the playoff showdown.

Pink No. 10 Messi jerseys were sprinkled around the stadium. Among the fans rooting for the Argentine icon were Nick Krell and his wife, Andrea Fonseca. Both have Miami roots, and they moved to Nashville two years ago.

They carried a homemade poster with photos of Messi and the caption read: “Today we see the greatest in history, keep writing your history, from the neighborhood to the stadium, thanks for making me dream, Leo.”

Krell’s mother is Brazilian and his father is Uruguayan, so his love of soccer started as a child.

“I always wanted Miami to have an MLS team, and then Beckham became the owner and we got Messi, which is incredible,” Krell said.

Fonseca grew up in the Grapeland neighborhood of Miami, near the airport, a few blocks from where Inter Miami is building Miami Freedom Park Stadium, due to open in the spring of 2026. “My parents still live in that house, so we will definitely go visit and see some games in the new stadium next season,” she said.