A playwright couldn’t have set the stage any better: The Chicago Fire are headed to Ft. Lauderdale to take on Lionel Messi and the rest of Inter Miami’s star-studded roster in the only MLS game being played that day.

A win for the Fire will book the team a spot in the postseason for the first time since 2017 and give the team their third win in as many games over playoff-bound teams, with the Fire finding new heights at exactly the right time in the season.

The stakes are high for Miami as well: Having failed to win any of the three three trophies available to them this year (the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Club World Cup and the Leagues Cup), the team is still in contention for two more: the Supporters Shield given to the team with the best record and MLS Cup.

Becoming the first team to defend their Shield title since the LA Galaxy did it in 2011 (a team featured both Fire Head Coach Gregg Berhalter and center back Omar González and went on to win MLS Cup) would give the team something to hang their hat on after a disappointing season. They’re on the outside booking in, however, and their chances of finishing atop the standings diminishes significantly if they drop points against the Fire.

In 2023, a late-season win over Inter Miami at Soldier Field put the team within sight of the playoffs, only for the team to stumble in their final games and fall short. This time, one more win is all the Fire need to make it in.

Tyler Terens, who handled play-by-play for the Fire in their first games against Inter Miami, will be on the call.

Series History

All time: 4W-2D-3LLast away match: August 31, 2024 Inter Miami 2-1 Chicago Fire FC, Chase Bank Stadium, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.Last match: April 13, 2025: Chicago Fire 0-0 Inter Miami at Soldier Field, Chicago, Ill.

What to Expect

Inter Miami

Inter Miami’s season has tested the limits of what is possible for any MLS roster, let alone one that relies on as many veterans in the twilight of their 30s.

In addition to 30 league games, the team has played in eight CONCACAF Champions Cup matches, four Club World Cup matches, and six Leagues Cup matches since kicking off their season on February 19th. That’s 54 matches in 223 days (or just under 32 weeks) – an average of a game just over every four days.

Because of those games in other competitions, Miami had to postpone several league fixtures, which they have been working through September to make up. As a result, this is the sixth game Miami will be playing over the course of 17 days.

You might assume that Miami head coach Javier Mascherano, coaching a club team for the first time in his life, would have gone with conventional wisdom, and heavily rotated his squad, but he hasn’t: Lionel Messi has not only started but gone the full 90 minutes in each of the five matches his team has played since September 13. Rodrigo De Paul has also played every one of those minutes.

Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets also started all five of those matches and each has only been subbed off once – Alba in the 85th minute of the team’s 4-0 win over New York City on September 24th and Busquets in the 71st minute three days later against Toronto. Luis Suárez is comparatively rested, having served a three game suspension following the Leagues Cup, but he has played all 180 minutes since he’s been back.

That is, needless to say, a lot of soccer for any player, let alone for a group of players over 30.

Should it work? No, probably not, but so far, it has: In that stretch, Miami’s only loss was in their opening game against Charlotte, with three wins capped with a draw last Saturday against Toronto FC in a game where former Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson stood on his head to earn Toronto the point.

Chicago Fire

After saying that his team got “a little bit fatigued” in the game against the Crew on Saturday, Berhalter was asked if he thought the team would be able to recover for the game against Miami less than kicking off less than 69 hours later.

Here’s what the Fire head coach said in response: “Yeah, well, they'll be doing the same thing, right, Miami? And probably more, with all the fixtures they've had in the last couple weeks. So it's a mind over matter thing. When you get this close to the end of the season and there’s a lot riding on the line, guys want to perform, they want to play. And you can see that the message of being hard to play, being difficult to play against, they took to heart. So that's what we go down to Miami, do the same thing.”

One player that will be getting some rest? Sam Rogers, whose yellow card in 2nd half stoppage time earned him a one game suspension for card accumulation. That’s a tough blow for Rogers, who had played some of his best soccer of the year over the past two matches, being the one centerback who got forward on the attack while still tracking back to defend, helping the team earn six points without conceding a goal.

It’s also a tough blow for the Fire, who switched to playing three center backs against Minnesota and who have scored five goals while keeping two clean sheets in that stretch. Without Rogers, there isn’t an obvious replacement on the roster, with the two other options at the position – 17-year-old Christopher Cupps and 36-year-old Omar González – either two inexperienced at this level to play or, frankly, too old to be relieved upon to go up and down the pitch as Rogers did. Mauricio Pineda has played at center back before, but lacks the height and aerial presence that Rogers has, and it’s likely that Berhalter wants Joel Waterman and Jack Elliott to be the central defenders who help ensure defensive stability rather than bombing down the pitch.

Still: Both of those results came against teams that also played with three center bucks. Miami, meanwhile, have played with some variation of a back four almost all season, with two center backs. Berhalter has indicated that the switch to a back three wasn’t permanent but would rather be opponent- and match state-dependent, and this is likely to be a case where we see the team playing out of the 4-3-3 that we’ve seen far more often.

Goalkeeper Chris Brady says that the team will be "flying" against Miami given the chance to make the postseason. with a win.

Looking for goals, Miami have been pushing numbers forward – but after this many minutes, none of the squad will be particularly interested in tracking back. If the Fire can exploit that and keep the number of opportunities or “Messi magic” to a minimum, there is a path for the Fire to get three points – and punch their postseason ticket – on Tuesday.

Projected Starting XI

Match Information and How to Watch

Date and Time: Tuesday, September 30, 2025, 6:30 PM CTForecast: Temperatures around 80ºF at kickoff with high humidityLocation: Chase Stadium, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.TV: Apple TV – MLS Season PassRadio: wlsam.com (English), Que Buena Fire via the Uforia App (Spanish).