da lvbet： Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the Herons during their time under the global microscope
da brdice： When Inter Miami announced their globetrotting preseason plans, the outside world knew exactly what was going on. This was an exercise in brand-building, a moment for the club to remind the rest of the world that they have signed Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest to ever play the game. It was also a chance to show that they weren't content to just be the talk of North America; they wanted to be the talk of the entire world.
With that in mind, Miami scheduled out a preseason that would see them play teams from four different continents over several weeks, taking them from El Salvador to Dallas to Saudi Arabia to East Asia and back to Miami.
As that tour nears its close, Inter Miami is very much a talking point of the global game. The problem is, though, that most of the talk isn't good.
From poor results on the field to some reputation hits off of it, this hasn't gone as anyone at the club would have planned. Nearly everything that could have gone wrong has, from injuries to catastrophic losses to angry fans going so far as to take aim at one of the most beloved figures this sport has, Messi himself.
It's been a preseason tour from hell for Miami, and it's hard to see how anyone involved has benefitted. Some promoters have probably made some good money and several players in the squad have been given a heck of an experience, but with the ew MLS season approaching, it doesn't feel like Inter Miami is in a better position as a club or as a team than they were just a few weeks ago.
GettyPoor start claims two starlets
Miami kicked-off their run of friendlies with a clash against the El Salvador national team, and though they were playing pretty poorly in what finished as a 0-0 draw, there was little reason for concern this early in their campaign.
That was until Facundo Farias went down clutching his knee in the second half of Miami's preseason opener. The Argentinian starlet, who shined so brightly as Messi's understudy in 2023, saw his season end before it could begin. A torn ACL, the club confirmed. Season over.
It was a catastrophic loss, one that robbed the club of a key attacking player. Farias was going to be key this season, with Messi's international commitments and Luis Suarez's fitness issues set to leave gaps in the attack for Tata Martino to fill with players such as the 21-year-old playmaker. Not this year, though.
A 1-0 loss to FC Dallas continued Miami's inauspicious start, but it was the bad news that came shortly after that hurt most. Benjamin Cremaschi, last season's breakout homegrown star, will miss several months with a sports hernia.
After two games, Miami had lost two young players that were poised to play key roles this season. And that all happened before the club even really got going on the travel portion of this world tour.
AdvertisementGetty Disaster in Saudi Arabia
The video was clipped almost immediately. There sat Turki Al-Shikh, the Saudi Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment, cozied up in his luxury box. As Messi emerged from the Miami bench to make his long-awaited appearance against Al-Nassr, Al-Shikh responded as the camera panned to him. Stone-faced, sunglasses on and six fingers in the air, he denoted the scoreline on one of the worst days in Inter Miami's young history.
He wasn't the only one laughing at Miami's 6-0 battering at the hands a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Al-Nassr. Even without the injured Portuguese superstar, the world was watching on with intrigue as two rising superpower clubs faced off. In the end, one looked like a superpower, alright; the other looked like a team in need of saving.
By the time Messi came on for the final few minutes, Inter Miami were far beyond that. They'd been blitzed by Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal days earlier, with their second-half fightback only enough to salvage a 4-3 defeat. There was no salvaging the scoreline against Al-Nassr, however, and there was no erasing the smirk from Ronaldo's face seated high above the field as his side ran roughshod over Messi's.
That game further illustrated the fact that there is no true rivalry between MLS and the Saudi Pro League. They're operating under different financial constraints with different paths to success and different beliefs on how to get there. One game, particularly a friendly where one of the teams is in preseason mode, won't decide a winner.
Still, it was an embarrassing day for Miami. With the world watching on, they were crushed. It did little to develop the club's reputation or showcase its on-field product. By the time it was over, Inter Miami's trip to Saudi Arabia had only further exposed how far this team had left to go.
Fans turn in Hong Kong
As Miami moved on to Hong Kong, the fans who filled the Hong Kong Stadium to see Messi play felt they had been sold a false promise. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was ruled out of Miami's fourth preseason match with a minor injur, and so the boos rang out: for Messi, for David Beckham and for Inter Miami, who stumbled into a PR disaster due to their superstar's fitness problems.
On one side, you can feel for the fans, many of whom were looking forward to fulfilling their dreams of seeing Messi in the flesh. Supporters from all over the world would do just about anything to see the Argentinian icon play, particularly if they haven't yet already. Time is running out, for sure, so every chance to see Messi take the field feels a bit bigger these days.
The other side, though, is the one based on reality. This was a sporting event and, sometimes, injuries happen. Messi was dealing with one, as was Suarez.
“We understand the disappointment of the fans for the absence of Leo and Luis Suarez,” Martino said. “We understand a lot of fans are very disappointed and we ask for their forgiveness. We wish we could have sent Leo and Luis on for at least a while, but the risk was too big.”
They simply couldn't play, but that fact didn't make those who paid their hard-earned money to see the game feel any better. One fan was seen decapitating a cardboard cutout of Messi, a fitting clip to describe how many in the stadium felt after the 4-1 Inter Miami win.
“We do feel a bit scammed by the club because we paid, and I think most people pay, to see Messi," fan Ada Kam told , holding a placard that read "refund scam". "And it was advertised almost exclusively that Messi was going to play."
“Regarding Messi not playing the match today, the government, as well as all football fans, are extremely disappointed about the organizer’s arrangement," the Hong Kong government said in a statement. "The organizer owes all football fans an explanation.”
They are unlikely to get one that's different from the one Martino gave, and so in the end, Inter Miami's trip to Hong Kong did more harm than good.
GettyMessi finally speaks out
Despite all of the good he's done since arriving in MLS, Messi has come under fire on occasion from the U.S. media. His lack of press conferences, a norm for sporting superstars in the United States, has drawn some criticism. Stars like LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes speak to reporters before and after every game, but Messi has been almost silent since his arrival.
That was until he spoke to media in Tokyo following the debacle in Hong Kong, offering his own explanation. "The truth is that it was bad luck that I couldn’t [play] on the day of the Hong Kong match," Messi said. "Unfortunately, in football, things can happen in any game, that we may have an injury. It’s a shame because I always want to participate, I want to be there, and even more so when it comes to these games when we travel so far and people are so excited to see our matches.
"I hope we can return and we can play another game and I can be present. As I do whenever I can. But the truth is that it is a shame that I was not able to participate.”