Inter Miami clinched a slot in the 2024 Major League Soccer playoffs after triumphing 2-0 over FC Cincinnati on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, thanks to two goals from Luis Suárez.

Despite a red card to Tomás “Toto” Avilés late in the first half at Chase Stadium, the South Florida side saw out the win in the second half against second-place Cincinnati.

Miami was again without Lionel Messi, who was watching on from the stands along with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Messi has featured in just 12 of Miami’s 26 MLS games this season and is still recovering from a ankle ligament injury suffered in Argentina’s win over Colombia in the Copa América final on July 14.

Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said Friday that Messi would return before the end of the regular season.

The Herons return to the postseason for the first time since 2022, after failing to qualify last year when concluding the campaign in 14th place on the Eastern Conference table with just 34 points in 34 games.

The top seven teams from each conference qualify automatically for the round one best-of-three playoff series, which kicks off on Oct. 26. Each series will see the higher seed host the first game, before playing the second away and returning for the third match if it’s necessary.

Inter Miami will host at least one playoff match at Chase Stadium.

Following the first round, the playoffs will take a break to accommodate the November FIFA international window before resuming play on Nov. 23 for the conference semifinals. MLS Cup will be held on Dec. 7 at the home of the higher-ranked participant.

Inter Miami now sits in first place in the Eastern Conference with 56 points in 26 games, extending its lead over Cincinnati to eight points. With eight regular-season matches left to play, Miami also leads the race for the 2024 Supporters’ Shield and has the possibility to set a new team points record.

Rain and possibly strong thunderstorms will plague South Florida through the weekend as a tropical wave near Cuba moves slowly north, forecasters said on Saturday.

The National Weather Service expects that most rain showers and thunderstorms will develop in the afternoon and evening before lessening in the overnight hours. The thunderstorms could range from strong to marginally severe.

By 1:30 p.m. Saturday, the inclement weather was already starting to impact parts of South Florida.

A flood advisory was issued for metropolitan Miami-Dade — including Miami, Coral Gables, Westchester and Doral — until 2:45 p.m. Forecasters say minor flooding is occurring or about to start in the area from the between two and four inches of rain fall, up to another inch of rain could come done.

The Upper Keys is also under a flood advisory until 4:30 p.m., with emphasis on areas between Key Largo and Windley Key. Between one and two inches of rain has fallen, with another possible inch on the way.

The coming on and off rain showers are due to a tropical wave that is slowly moving north, affecting Florida.

MIAMI GARDENS– As back-to-back state champions, the Lakeland Dreadnaughts certainly rank among the top programs in Florida.

After what Lakeland accomplished on Friday night, the Dreadnaughts just raised their profile on the national stage.

Playing mistake-free on offense, while being opportunistic on defense, Lakeland grinded out an impressive 16-8 victory over traditional national power Miami Central at Traz Powell Stadium.

The Rockets entered ranked 20th in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Top 25 national rankings.

“We knew what it was,” Lakeland coach Marvin Frazier said. “We knew that was the big, bad wolf. We just had to show that we were one too. I’m really proud of these guys for showing it, and putting it on display. We knew what we had the opportunity to do. Saturday morning, everybody will be talking about Lakeland.”

If Lakeland wasn’t recognized on a national scale before, it promises to be now.

“Dade County is a special county,” Frazier said. “This is the Mecca. To all those schools down here. The Northwesterns, the Norlands. All those guys. St. Thomas is up there in Broward. I mean, Chaminade! All those guys. Listen, it’s the Mecca. In Lakeland, we respect them, but we wanted to beat them. We wanted to conquer them. That’s just what it is. We want to conquer them, because they are so respected. To be the best in the country, you’ve got to get it down here, and beat these guys. Much respect to everybody down here, and we’re going to continue to grind and go wherever the Lord takes us.”

In a game defensively dominated game, Lakeland kicker Calum Muldoon booted three close range (less than 30 yards) field goals.

Arguably, the player of the game, was linebacker Malik Morris, who stood out on defense, while also recording a momentum-turning blocked punt in the third quarter.

At the goal-line, Morris entered at running back, and powered his way in for a 2-yard decisive touchdown run, which put Lakeland ahead, 16-6, with 10:15 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“We did pretty good, but we’ve got to go back to the drawing board,” Morris said. “It’s a long season ahead. We hope to be playing into December.”

Morris also came up big in the closing minutes as part of Lakeland’s goal-line stand. Central, trailing 16-6, had the ball on the 1-year line. But Lakeland stuffed successive quarterback sneaks by Bekkam Kritza, and the Rockets turned the ball over on downs with 3:02 left.

“Shout out to Miami,” Morris said. “A bunch of NFL legions [are from Miami-Dade County]. You don’t see many people coming from Lakeland like that. I feel like, for us to be from there, hey, we did a tremendous job. We represented our city well.”

Central struggled to manufacture much offensive.

In the second quarter, however, the Rockets did connect on a big play. Kritza hooked up with Nae’shaun Montgomery on a 56-yard touchdown pass. But the extra point was missed.

Still, Central led, 6-3. But a couple of field goals by Muldoon gave Lakeland a 9-6 lead at halftime.

“They did some different things that they haven’t really done on film,” Central coach Jube Joseph said. “It kind of confused us early on. Once we settled down, we made some big plays. There’s a lot of plays left out on that field that we felt like we should have connected on. But some things happened, execution wise.”

In the second half, Central showed some life after taking the kickoff. But the game was delayed about 40 minutes due to lightning in the area.

In the closing minutes, Central’s final points came on a safety, making it an eight-point game. But the Rockets final drive was halted at the Lakeland 22-yard line with 1:26 left.

“I think we picked it up in the second half,” Joseph said. “They’ve got to understand, we play four quarters of football.”

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