2023 Leagues Cup Semifinals: Philadelphia vs. Inter Miami preview, prediction
By Jason Cozad
Philadelphia and Inter Miami will go head-to-head in the 2023 Leagues Cup semi-final in Subaru Park on Aug. 15 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Philadelphia and Inter Miami met in the MLS before this 2023 Leagues Cup semi-final match. Altogether, Philadelphia has kept Inter Miami at bay most of the time, beating them twice, drawing twice, and losing once.
Right now, Philadelphia is one of the MLS top-five teams that are still in this tournament, the other is Nashville, SC, but will that help Philadelphia to be able to pick up the needed win against Inter Miami?
How have Philadelphia and Inter Miami got to this point?
Philadelphia became victorious over another Mexican side in Queretaro by beating them 2-1 in the quarterfinals. This was the second time that Philadelphia and Queretaro met. The first time Queretaro got a thrashing to a 5-1 final score line. This time Philadelphia is coming into their home stadium to play a new and improved team of Inter Miami that they have not seen before.
Inter Miami was able to cruise to this point of the tournament from the quarterfinals when they handed Charlotte a 4-0 loss. Inter Miami has yet to be able to do it themselves, though. Since Lionel Messi‘s arrival, Inter Miami looked like a brand new team that just came off the shelf. Messi has been able to score in all five of their League Cup matches, helping them come this far.
Philadelphia and Inter Miami head-to-head and prediction
Inter Miami is the tournament’s surprise team, and everyone was saying that Inter Miami would not have a shot to do anything. Others even said Inter Miami would be one of the first teams eliminated from the Group Stage. With the arrival of Messi and the way he has been playing, Inter Miami has been looking like the favorite to win the Leagues Cup.
On the other hand, Philadelphia has always been a major competitor when it comes to playing at home. Philadelphia has won their last seven games on their home field and looks to make it eight. The last time Philadelphia and Inter Miami met, Philadelphia got the better of them 4-1. Is that going to change now because Philadelphia will have to outplay, outpower, and outsmart an Inter Miami team that has come out of nowhere?
In the last five matches these two teams have had, Philadelphia has scored 11 goals and given up four. In comparison, Inter Miami has scored 17 goals and has only given up six.
The momentum for this match should likely favor Inter Miami, just because of how one player is playing, eight goals in five matches, but Philadelphia will have to build a plan to stop him.
Philadelphia will be able to enjoy being at home at Subaru Park, which might help them some, but Inter Miami will put up a fight. Will it be enough, though?
Prediction: Philadelphia: 2, Inter Miami: 2 (4-3 Inter Miami wins in penalty kicks).