Eastern Conference Final: New York City vs Inter Miami at Chase Stadium

It's matchday – it's the 2025 Eastern Conference Final – and New York City FC are in South Florida to face Inter Miami CF in the biggest Gender Reveal Derby to date.

NYCFC aren't supposed to be here. According to the oddsmakers, the fifth-seeded team in the Eastern Conference should have fallen to top-seeded Philadelphia Union after their starting attack was hollowed out with the loss of Alonso Martínez and Andrés Perea to season-ending injuries.

But New York City outplayed the Supporters' Shield winners last Sunday in what can be considered Major League Soccer's biggest upset this year, and now a team that many pundits picked to miss the playoffs before the start of the season are Eastern Conference Finalists.

On the pink side of the field, Lionel Messi's Inter Miami look imperious under Head Coach Javier Mascherano. The Herons beat FC Cincinnati 4-0 on the road just Sunday, smothering a team that were thought to be title contenders. Messi's form in the MLS Cup Playoffs has been magisterial, with the 38-year-old GOAT scoring six goals and adding five assists in four games — he alone accounts for 11 of Miami's 12 postseason goals this year.

Will New York City find a way to piece together another upset win on the road? After all, NYCFC are the best away team in the league: Not only do they have three wins in three games played on the road in these playoffs, they have just one loss in their last 10 away games: New York City's road record is 8W-1D-1L going back to July.

Or will Miami take the next step in a march to a title that has so far eluded this record-setting payroll? Messi alone makes more than the entire NYCFC roster, and with teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets set to retire at the end of this season, the pressure is on for a squad of aging All-Stars and emerging South American talent to deliver a trophy that the soccerati expected them to lift last year.

This is a game full of electrifying matchups.

• Battle of No 10s: Both teams feature 38-year-old No 10s from Argentina in Messi and Maxi Moralez. Messi's white-hot form is proving impossible for MLS clubs to contain, while Maxi's goal against Philadelphia proved to be the game-winner — and his unmatched ability to draw fouls helped close out the win.

• Offense vs Defense: Miami's 12 goals in four playoff games are unmatched. Look further back, and you'll see the depth of this run of form: Miami scored 16 goals in the four games going into the postseason (although one of those was a 5-3 home loss to Chicago Fire), giving them 28 goals in eight games. That attack will now face a New York City defense that allowed just one goal in four playoff games, with goalkeeper Matt Freese making a combined 12 saves to log a league-best three clean sheets.

• Men vs Boys: The average age of Miami's midfield in the win over Cincinnati was 32, with Baltasar Rodriguez (22) offsetting the decades piled up by Busquets (37), De Paul (31), and Messi (38). Compare that with New York City's average age of 27, with Maxi (38) adding experience to a lineup featuring Kevin O'Toole (26), Jonny Shore (18), and Hannes Wolf (26).

• Tactical duel between two first-year MLS head coaches: While the fairly inexperienced Mascherano looks to have taken control of this ego-filled team and has them playing their best soccer this year, the more seasoned Jansen has transformed a mid-budget squad full of young players into a cohesive unit that plays with the "bulletproof mindset" he set out to instill at the start of the year.

Referee Scouting Report

Jon Freemon will oversee an NYCFC game for the fifth time this year, with every one of those played on the road. He refereed New York City's 1-0 win over Charlotte in Round One, Game 1, when he showed five yellow cards to NYCFC players — and none to the hosts. Freemon also oversaw New York City's 1-0 away loss to Philadelphia on October 4, their 4-3 away win over FC Dallas on July 25, and the 1-1 away draw with Nashville on May 31. Overall, New York City have a record of 2W-1D-1L with Freemon on the field.

Notably, Freemon isn't afraid to discipline NYCFC players. Justin Haak, Aiden O’Neill, and Kevin O'Toole all earned seven yellow cards in the regular season and the playoffs, and those three players each received two yellow cards from Freemon.

New York City vs Inter Miami H2H

The head-to-head between these two clubs heavily favors New York City, but that's due to the team's early dominance, when NYCFC beat Miami in their first five meetings. The tide has shifted since then: NYCFC have four draws and one loss in the last five games played.