The Vancouver Whitecaps will hope to keep their dream CONCACAF Champions Cup run alive, as they welcome Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to BC Place.

The late goal against Pumas in the quarterfinals earned the Whitecaps a date with the best team in the East, as well as all but requiring Messi to play in Vancouver after he ducked this fixture last year.

You don’t need me to tell you that Miami and Messi are good, but after a win in Columbus this weekend they are MLS’ last remaining unbeaten side. The only thing separating them with first place in the Eastern Conference is the fact that they have a game in hand on Columbus and Charlotte.

Indeed, Miami is on pace to potentially break their own points record, which they set last season. Part of that is due to the fact that Messi remains, well, Messi (five goal contributions), as do his friends (six goal contributions for Luis Suarez).

Yet, much of the gains Miami has made are related to the fact that this team has some semblance of a defensive structure this season. While last year’s team became notorious for shipping dumb goals and getting caught in transition, Inter Miami this year is the third-best defensive team in the league. That is down to improvements along the backline, such as Maximiliano Falcon, as well as the development of guys like Noah Allen. In midfield, Yannick Bright has been excellent in stitching together the sometimes patchwork structure that plagues a team who has guys who don’t really pressure.

Going forward, Miami have built on their embarrassment of riches with talented signings Tadeo Allende and Telasco Segovia, both of whom look like the real deal. They embrace a 4-4-2 style that gives Messi lots of room to drop deep, with the goal of giving him runners (guys like Allende and Segovia) in the box.

Miami haven’t been flawless. They’ve picked up some draws because of either 1) dumb red cards or 2) the fact that they weirdly haven’t rotated as much as you would expect. But this team is good at giving Messi the chance to find space in behind higher lines and, well, Messi is about as good as it gets at doing that.

One imagines Vancouver will embrace their possession-based system (Miami hasn’t seemed to want the ball as much as last year) and try to take the game to the Herons. Miami struggled against Columbus (who play a similar enough style to the Caps) on Saturday, yet found a way to win anyway. That’s the danger for Vancouver — they could easily play a near flawless game and it won’t matter.

Ryan Gauld will not be back for this one; nor will Mathias Laborda. Sam Adekugbe and Jayden Nelson are back in training and in contention to make the bench, but I imagine Jesper Sorensen will likely roll with a similar starting XI as he has in recent weeks.

It isn’t unhinged to say this might be the Caps’ biggest match in their MLS history, given both the stakes and the opposition. A packed house at BC Place should give Vancouver a lift and they have shown a desire to try and dictate play at home in CONCACAF competition, even against teams that are, on paper, stronger. Like in a video game, where you keep having to defeat progressively harder levels in order to win, this is the toughest test yet. But, at this point, there is no reason to think Vancouver won’t be competitive.