Inter Miami & LAFC ready for monumental Concacaf Champions Cup clash | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Inter Miami fly from coast to coast to visit LAFC at BMO Stadium Wednesday night, and April meetings between two MLS sides don’t get much bigger than this one (11:30 pm ET | FS1, TUDN, ViX).

It’s the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal clash, with the winner of the home-and-home series advancing to meet either Vancouver or Pumas UNAM in the semifinals of North America's top club competition.

Several of the league’s biggest names will take the stage some 13 miles south of the famed Hollywood sign on Mount Lee, and their performances will go a long way towards deciding which of these powerhouses will carry the MLS banner into the business end of ConcaChampions, perhaps the most elusive title on offer in this part of the world.

Messi recharged

Any conversation about that star power inevitably includes Leo Messi, and it appears the Argentine legend will be available for the Herons’ biggest match of the season thus far – albeit perhaps not as a starter, but more likely the most game-changing of substitutes.

“The plan is for him to be able to recover and travel to Los Angeles,” coach Javier Mascherano told reporters in Spanish after Messi came off the bench to score what proved the game-winning goal in Saturday’s 2-1 home win over fellow Eastern Conference pacesetters Philadelphia Union.

“The minutes that he played today, he played because he felt good – we didn't risk him for 90 minutes. But I think it did him good to play some 45 minutes with stoppage time. If nothing strange happens, the plan is for him to travel.”

After missing out on national team duty during the March international window due to an adductor injury, Messi had enough to make the difference against the Union, pushing Miami to the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings with a game in hand and keeping them undefeated across all competitions. Even short of full fitness, a status applied to him in some form or another for most of the young season to date, the GOAT remains dominant, as he showed with a relatively rare right-footed finish within seconds of his entry.

“We already know the difference he makes,” said his young teammate Toto Avilés in Spanish afterward. “The instant he enters, the game changes.”

Star-studded showdown

Wednesday’s hosts are not short on luminaries, either. Winger Denis Bouanga has priors in CCC, having earned Golden Boot and Best XI honors in the 2023 tournament, and he’s already bagged three goals and an assist in this year’s edition. He’s yet to score in league action, however, which may be a factor in LAFC’s recent slide down the West table.

After Saturday’s 3-2 loss at San Diego FC, the Black & Gold are 1W-4L-0D in their last five matches, with five goals scored and 11 conceded, even if one of those losses carries the context of being a second-leg CCC game at Columbus, into which LAFC carried a 3-0 first-leg advantage. The Angelinos will aim to turn to a new Concacaf page after sleepwalking through the opening phases of their weekend setback.

“We showed a side of us that we've also shown in other games in the season, and it's a little too timid and passive, with some negative body language, negative passing structure, which we don't want to see,” said coach Steve Cherundolo. “It's certainly things we don't actively train and ask our players to do. And when we do that, we look sluggish, and San Diego took full advantage of that in the first 30 minutes.

“We really have unfortunately shown some vulnerability when we're too passive. And when we're aggressive and we are confident and play how we want to play and stay connected, I think we're quite dangerous and very good. So we need to make sure that we're only showing the good side.”

Bouanga played as a No. 9 rather than his usual left wing spot against SDFC, with injury concerns swirling around strikers Jeremy Ebobisse and Olivier Giroud. The latter’s struggles in 2025 have become a central topic around LAFC; Wednesday would be a great time for him to find another gear.

Supporting cast steps up

Beyond Messi’s situation, IMCF also had Tadeo Allende, David Martínez, David Ruiz, Marcelo Weigandt and Ryan Sailor nursing injuries of one degree or another heading into the weekend, while several others racked up significant mileage on international duty. The Herons’ busy calendar is already testing the squad depth they worked to enhance over the winter; so far, so good, according to Mascherano, who’s had role players like Telasco Segovia, Fafà Picault and Robert Taylor step up repeatedly in the opening months.

Will that be the case again this week?

“We had a lot of players that needed the break to recuperate and guys who were out playing internationally and sometimes this type of game, you have to find a way,” he said on Saturday. “This is where you see the depth of this club and how we will need everybody to step up in such a long season.

“We try to help the players understand that it’s not the quantity, but the quality of the minutes. Many times it's hard for players to understand that 20, 30 minutes are vital, and little by little, the facts are showing them, and they're convinced about this.”

Can anyone catch Inter Miami & Lionel Messi?