Chattanooga Football Club (4-1-3D, 2SOW, 17 pts - 1st in East and Southeast Division) looks to extend its leads at the top of the Eastern Conference in MLS NEXT Pro when it travels to Inter Miami II (3-3-1D, 10 pts - 10th in East, 4th in Southeast) on Friday, May 10th at 5:00 p.m. ET at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
This will be the second meeting of the season between the two sides. CFC played to a memorable 6-2 win over Inter Miami II on April 13th, which saw Jalen James score a first-half hat-trick and captain Alex McGrath grab a brace. The result ended Inter Miami II's then-unbeaten streak and represented a club record for most goals scored in a single match in its professional era.
Since then, CFC has jumped to the top of the Eastern Conference and grabbed its first away victory of the season at Huntsville City as well.
Sporting Director and Head Coach Rod Underwood previewed the second matchup of the season with Inter Miami II.
"We have to move on from that (the 6-2 win over Inter Miami II in the sides' first encounter) because we know when we do our homework and when we really look into the data," Underwood said. "It really wasn't a 6-2 game; it was much closer than that. We were just sharp around goal that day and did some other things well and at a high level. We want to see if we can play better overall in ability. How do we get better? How do we keep pushing ourselves?"
"They'll (Inter Miami II) come in and play and want to win at home and be aggressive. We know that they'll come with a top-level team and try to compete and come out and try and win the game. We don't expect anything less. We expect them to push us as hard as they possibly can."
Inter Miami II has yet to recover from their 6-2 defeat by Chattanooga FC, falling 3-1 to New England Revolution II on April 28th on the road before being edged 2-1 by New York Red Bulls II at home on May 3rd.
Coached by former Columbus Crew star Federico Higuain, Inter Miami II have no trouble finding the back of the net (14 in seven matches played), however, they have conceded the joint-most goals in the league alongside New York Red Bulls II, New England Revolution II and Colorado Rapids 2 (17).
Leonardo Frugis Afonso (4) and Bryan Destin (3) have scored the most goals, while five playes have provided two assists each (Ryan Carmichael, Pep Casas, Alejandro Flores De La Paz, Jack Pymm and Nyk Sessock).
Can't make it Fort Lauderdale? Don't worry! Shady's Corner will be hosting the club's official away match watch party.
Shady's Corner is strictly for ages 21 and up, all the time. For those with children looking to watch the match, Southside Social will also be playing the match.