It could be worse, folks.

The Vancouver Whitecaps have a date Saturday with the best team in the league, but not the greatest footballer of all time.

While there will be plenty of disappointed fans now that Lionel Messi, along with some of his friends, didn’t make the trip to BC Place for Saturday’s match, there will almost certainly be a feeling of relief among the Whitecaps.

Even though Miami entered the league in 2020, Saturday will be the first time the two teams have ever done battle. And the Caps are running up against the Herons at the worst possible time — Inter Miami has not lost a match in all competitions since bowing out of the CONCACAF Champions League to Monterrey, and hasn’t lost in the league since late March. That includes several games without Messi, Luis Suarez and/or Sergio Busquets, less you think that the threat has passed.

Indeed, Miami has seen a meteoric rise to the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings (albeit with their closest rival, FC Cincinnati, maintaining a game in hand). And there is little doubt to how they do this — scoring goals, lots of them, often with the help of Messi. As a result, Miami leads the league in goals per match and basically sits at or near the top of every conceivable attacking statistical category.

Even without Messi and friends, Miami still have enough depth to be a real threat. They continue to whip out depth pieces like Matias Rojas, who has been in excellent form, the quality winger Robert Taylor and even Leo Campagna, all of whom most MLS teams would salivate over. Old friend Julian Gressel gets lots of space in this system to cook and remains as dangerous as ever.

This isn’t to say that Miami is totally infallible, however. Early in the season, their weaknesses were pretty clear: spotty defending that leads to cheap giveaways and, often, goals. The midfield is generally solid but getting them out of system and/or putting Sergio Busquets in a position where he has to cover too much ground often puts them in difficult positions.

Both of these things have been mitigated in recent weeks, though scoring bags of goals helps with that. The return of Benjamin Cremaschi gives Miami another midfield option and recent matches have brought more stability with the return to the 4-3-3 that was favoured earlier this year.

How the Caps will line up is uncertain. Vancouver struggled mightily to see off Cavalry in the midweek Voyageurs Cup match, with Vanni Sartini seemingly rotating his side to better prepare for the weekend match. That didn’t stop Vanni from ripping into the effort on Tuesday, and the fact that he had to burn 45 minutes of Ryan Gauld and Brian White will likely disappoint the manager.

Andres Cubas and Damir Kreilach, however, were back in training on Thursday, a potentially positive sign for both guys featuring on the weekend, even if only coming off the bench. Cubas in particular will be relied upon to frustrate Miami in midfield, assuming he is available.

Without Messi, the Caps do have a real shot in this one, though this will still be a tough match. Miami does try to play at lot with the ball (the 3rd most in MLS at 57%), although given the way other teams have frustrated the Whitecaps recently, it’s possible they adopt the strategy of trying to make the Caps pick them apart — something Vancouver has struggled mightily with.

Especially after Tuesday, the Whitecaps will have plenty of motivation to put on a good show and to prove they can hang with one of the elite teams in the league. Messi or not, Saturday will be must-see TV.