Inter Miami and Nashville SC kick off round one of the MLS playoffs. Here’s how they match up

It’s playoff time in Major League Soccer and one of the most-anticipated matchups is Friday’s Round One, Best-of-three series between No. 3 Inter Miami and No. 6 Nashville SC (8 p.m., Apple TV, FS1).

It’s fair to say that this one is less about the pairing of the two teams but one question: Can Miami’s star and the star of world soccer over in Lionel Messi lead Miami to an MLS Cup crown. Their head start is about as good as you can get with a home field advantage in this first round game against Nashville, a team that the last time the two played, Messi made it his playground, scoring a hat trick that secured his first MLS Golden Boot award, given to the player with the most goals in a regular season campaign.

His play certainly made it easy for Miami to extend his contract through the 2028 season on Thursday.

Additionally, Inter Miami has one of the most potent attacking corps spearheaded by the likes of Jordi Alba, Rodrigo De Paul, Sergio Busquets and with all of those star power names, people forget young midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi. The American star has improved every year and just made a name for himself leading the U.S. under-20 national team to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U20 World Cup in Qatar earlier this month.

However, on the flip side, enter Nashville. A team that’s been on a tear of its own behind British-born striker Sam Surridge. It was Surridge who was in a race alongside Messi for MLS’ Golden Boot, finishing with 24 goals on the season — good for second place — and spearheading Nashville’s place as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference.

But it’s less about goal-scoring production — OK, perhaps that’s a stretch, given goals win games — but Nashville is going to have to make sure its defense is buttoned up against a Miami side that comes in waves. Inter leads the league in goals (81) and assists (84) this season, and in the goals category, only fellow Eastern Conference side Chicago comes close with 68 goals.

Nashville scored 58 this season with Surridge scoring nearly half, but they also allowed 45. Another statistic that doesn’t necessarily bode well is that Nashville won just five league matches away from Geodis Park this season. That’s five in 17 matches. As for Miami, its 11-3-3 record inside Chase Stadium is one of the best in the conference.

A plus for Nashville, however, is that its buoyed by its head coach in B.J. Callaghan, who is no stranger to big moments and competing against some of the best teams and talents in the world. Callaghan led Nashville to its best-ever record this season and before that, as interim head coach for the U.S. men’s national team, led the Americans to a win in the CONCACAF Nation’s League tournament, leaving many to wonder if he could even take the reins.

Now, Callaghan and his team have to prove that its most recent 5-2 loss to Miami was just a fluke and that they’ve figured out how to stop one of the best teams in Major League Soccer, led by a player that you have to argue can still be considered one of the best in the world.

Game one prediction: Miami 2, Nashville 0