Gomez, Redondo return from injury for Inter Miami road game at Nashville SC on Saturday

Inter Miami hit the road Friday for a three-game trip, aiming to extend its win streak in the absence of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Matias Rojas, who are with their national teams in Copa America.

Miami, which boasts the best record in MLS and leads the league with 46 goals, is coming off back-to-back victories over Philadelphia Union and defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew.

The first stop on the road trip is a Saturday night game against Nashville SC (8:30 p.m., AppleTV), the fourth time the teams face each other this year. They played twice in the Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 in March, with the first game ending in a 2-2 tie and the second a 3-1 Miami win. Miami won again 3-1 in a league game in April.

Messi and Suarez combined for six of Miami’s eight goals in those games. They surely will be missed on Saturday, but Inter Miami got a pair of key reinforcements with the long-awaited return of Diego Gomez and Fede Redondo, who had both been out with serious injuries.

Gomez sustained a high ankle sprain in the first half of Miami’s league win over Nashville and it took him two months to recover. Redondo tore a knee ligament in late March and missed three months of action.

Both are candidates to play in the Paris Olympics in July, Gomez for Paraguay and Redondo for Argentina. Gomez, 21, was the co-top scorer in the South American Olympic qualifying tournament, has been eyed by scouts in Europe, and was recently linked to English club Brighton.

“Both players are ready to play on Saturday,” Inter Miami coach Tata Martino said. “That means our roster is a little more complete than it was. They started training with the group before the Columbus game 10 days ago, so the idea was for them to take this time to prepare themselves to be available, whether it be for limited minutes or the full 90.”

Miami forward Leo Campana, who scored against the Crew last game, said the team gained confidence with the two recent wins.

“We are in a good stretch after getting two important wins,” Campana said. “We have three games in a week now, all on the road, so we want to come out of that with nine points. We all know how important Leo and Luis are, but we also have young players who take advantage whenever they get an opportunity.”

Nashville, meanwhile, is on a good run under interim coach Rumba Munthali, who replaced the fired longtime coach Gary Smith six weeks ago. Munthali was the club’s player development coach before taking over for Smith.

Nashville is 3-1-3 with Munthali, including wins against Cincinnati, Toronto and New York City FC. The team’s defense has been extra stingy of late, preventing NYCFC from getting a single shot on goal last weekend.

“There is a new coach who came from within the club and sometimes these situations free up players and they continue to rely on very good players, but they have some key absences, the most significant in my opinion being the Canadian left winger (Jacob Shaffelburg), who is a terrific player,” Martino said. “They are also missing Shaq Moore (USA) and (Anibal) Godoy (Paraguay).

“They are a dangerous rival. Every game we’ve played against them has been very even and we expect a difficult game.”

On the offensive side, Nashville SC forward Sam Surridge enters Saturday’s game on a two-match point streak (two goals, one assist). Surridge leads the team with nine goals across all competitions, including a goal at Miami during Concacaf Champions Cup.

“We try to be a good defensive team and the games have been good and close between the two teams, but they have a lot of firepower, guys who are dangerous in the attacking half of the field, so we have to minimize those chances,” Munthali said of facing Miami.

Inter Miami leads the Eastern Conference and the Supporters Shield race with 41 points through 20 games with 12 wins, three losses and five times. The team’s plus-17 goal differential also leads the league.

“It’s a long season and our minds are on making the playoffs,” Martino said. “With the points we have right now, we are already where last year’s play-in teams were at the end of the season, so that is a good stat. We have played 20 games and want to continue building our lead.”

After the game Saturday Inter Miami will stay in Nashville and train there for a few days before traveling to Charlotte for a Wednesday game and then Cincinnati for the July 6 game. Miami’s next home game is July 17 against Toronto.