{"id":933680,"date":"2026-09-12T15:15:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/12\/nashville-sc-flip-the-switch-on-inter-miami-in-2026-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T15:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T20:15:53","slug":"nashville-sc-flip-the-switch-on-inter-miami-in-2026-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/12\/nashville-sc-flip-the-switch-on-inter-miami-in-2026-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville SC flip the switch on Inter Miami in 2026 | MLSSoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer <\/p>\n<article xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>A Southeast rivalry long painted pink has dramatically changed colors this year, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/nashville-sc\/\">Nashville SC<\/a> flipping the switch on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/clubs\/inter-miami-cf\/\">Inter Miami CF<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The sides meet again in this weekend&#8217;s Walmart Saturday Showdown, as Nashville look to continue their recent dominance over the defending MLS Cup presented by Audi champions (7:30 pm ET | <a href=\"https:\/\/soc.cr\/46LI1oH\" target=\"_blank\">Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Even more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/matchday-26-how-nashville-sc-can-clinch-playoffs\">Nashville can clinch<\/a> an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs spot with a win in this Matchday 26 clash at Nu Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Concacaf Champions Cup<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>Following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/lionel-messi\/\">Lionel Messi<\/a>&#8216;s transformative move to Inter Miami in July 2023, Inter Miami posted an 8W-1L-2D record across all competitions against Nashville.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That included their title-clinching win in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/lionel-messi-inter-miami-are-leagues-cup-champions\">Leagues Cup 2023<\/a> final and their Round One Best-of-3 Series <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/video\/highlights-inter-miami-cf-vs-nashville-sc-november-8-2025#highlights-inter-miami-cf-vs-nashville-sc-november-8-2025\">victory<\/a> in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2026, and the budding rivalry&#8217;s first matchup was in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/concacaf-champions-cup\/\">Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a> Round of 16.<\/p>\n<p>They played to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/concacaf-champions-cup\/2026\/matches\/nshvsmia-03-11-2026\/\">0-0 draw<\/a> in Leg 1 at GEODIS Park, which set up a winner-take-all Leg 2 in South Florida.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/giWJRzOPeZI?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Nashville SC vs Inter Miami CF | 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup | Round of 16\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Messi opened the scoring with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/concacaf-champions-cup\/news\/lionel-messi-inter-miami-scores-career-goal-900\">900th goal<\/a> of his historic career, putting Inter Miami ahead in the seventh minute.<\/p>\n<p>But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/cristian-espinoza\/\">Cristian Espinoza<\/a>&#8216;s second-half equalizer gave Nashville the away goal they needed to reach the quarterfinals following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/concacaf-champions-cup\/2026\/matches\/miavsnsh-03-18-2026\/\">1-1 draw<\/a>, advancing on tiebreakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was heartbreak for Miami, whose ownership group spoke openly about wanting to win CCC and spent aggressively during the offseason to fulfill those ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, Nashville defeated LIGA MX powerhouse Club Am\u00e9rica in the quarterfinals before Tigres UANL ousted them in the semifinals.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n                                <iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CFRD9hxikdE?feature=oembed\" allowfullscreen title=\"Inter Miami CF vs Nashville SC | 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup | Round of 16\"><\/iframe>\n                            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><h3>Nashville SC 4, Inter Miami 1<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s first regular-season matchup came at GEODIS Park on Aug. 15, and the Supporters&#8217; Shield leaders earned a decisive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2026\/matches\/nshvsmia-08-15-2026\/\">4-1 victory<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/hany-mukhtar\/\">Hany Mukhtar<\/a> struck for a brace, fellow MLS All-Stars\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/andy-najar\/\">Andy N\u00e1jar<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/sam-surridge\/\">Sam Surridge<\/a> added a goal apiece, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/players\/brian-schwake\/\">Brian Schwake<\/a> saved Messi&#8217;s first-half penalty kick to secure the win.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Nashville haven&#8217;t missed a beat since that memorable night, opening a nine-point gap on Miami in the Supporters&#8217; Shield and Eastern Conference races.<\/p>\n<p>Can Nashville continue to assert their 2026 dominance, or will the Herons claw back? That answer comes Saturday night at Miami&#8217;s new ground.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/news\/nashville-sc-have-flipped-the-switch-on-inter-miami-in-2026\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a>Qiana Pingree<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soccer A Southeast rivalry long painted pink has dramatically changed colors this year, with Nashville SC flipping the switch on Inter Miami CF. The sides meet again in this weekend&#8217;s Walmart Saturday Showdown, as Nashville look to continue their recent dominance over the defending MLS Cup presented by Audi champions (7:30 pm ET | Apple [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":933681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4450,2005,2438],"tags":[6562,5310],"class_list":["post-933680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nashville","category-soccer","category-switch","tag-nashville","tag-switch"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}