Could this be the most important two weeks of Miami's season? | OneFootball

Herons face critical challenges against Crew, 'Caps

Inter Miami trails just two teams in Major League Soccer's weekly power rankings. As fate would have it, the Herons play three of their next four matches against those sides.

The red-hot Vancouver Whitecaps (6-1-1, 19 points) and still undefeated Columbus Crew (5-0-3, 18 points) leapfrogged Inter Miami (4-0-3, 15 points) in this week's poll of MLSsoccer.com contributors after the Herons' lackluster scoreless draw against the Chicago Fire (3-2-3, 12 points). The 'Caps lead the Supporters Shield race and Western Conference standings, while Columbus leads the East. Minnesota United (4-1-3, 15 points) is fourth.

NEXT FOUR

1. Columbus vs. Inter Miami, 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday in Cleveland (MLS)

2. Vancouver vs. Inter Miami, 10:30 p.m. ET Thursday, April 24 in Vancouver (CCC quarterfinal first leg)

3. Inter Miami vs. FC Dallas, 5 p.m. ET Sunday, April 27 at Chase Stadium (MLS)

4. Inter Miami vs. Vancouver, 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 30 (CCC quarterfinal second leg)

For the second week in a row, Inter Miami will play an MLS regular season match on an NFL field; on Sunday, the Herons and Fire played at venerable Soldier Field in front of 62,000+ fans. Saturday, Columbus and Miami will play at 67,431-seat Huntington Bank Field, home of American football's Cleveland Browns. That key Eastern Conference clash -- Inter Miami is in fourth place behind Charlotte and Cincinnati (16 points each) -- is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Quest for hardware, history, continues against Vancouver

The Herons certainly want a result in Ohio, but they can't concentrate their full attention on the MLS Playoffs race with Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal matches against Vancouver looming. Only three U.S.-based teams (D.C. United, 1998; Los Angeles Galaxy, 2000; and Seattle Sounders, 2022) have won the Champions Cup since the premier club competition in Central and North America and the Caribbean started in 1960. The ambitious Herons want to be the fourth, and they want to win it with their iconic Fantastic Four: Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets.

To lift the cup, Inter Miami must outscore the prolific Whitecaps across two legs of the home-and-home competition. The semifinal's first leg will be played at 10:30 p.m. ET Thursday, April 24, in Vancouver, with the return leg at 8 p.m. the following Wednesday in Chase Stadium. Concacaf uses away goals as the first tiebreaker if the clubs finish the two ties with the same number of goals.