The inaugural club World Cup begins on June 14, with its 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four In the opening phase.
As part of our sides that will appear in the tournament, Felipe Cardinas offers you the backdrop of Inter Miami.
Who are they?
This is the fifth year of Inter Miami’s existence as a professional soccer club. Fort Lauderdale’s team, Florida, has been MLS’s laughing stock and the main club of the first division of North America. It was a large beginning for David Beckham’s pet project.
Inter Miami enters the Club World Cup with assaulted hopes and an injured ego after a difficult start to the 2025 ml season. Captain and global soccer icon Lionel Messi will lead a low -performance squad that expects group A to advance Porto de Portugal, Palmeiras do Brasil and the Egyptian side Al Ahly.
A place in this first play of the expanded club World Cup is a torn dream for Miami owners, but will the tournament fulfill their desires or become a nightmare experience?
How good they are?
Since Messi’s arrival in July 2023, Miami has proved some competitive success by becoming a commercial giant in the US. The presence of the 2022 World Cup winner helped Miami become one of MLS’s most valuable clubs, currently valued at $ 1.19 billion (£ 878 million), according to May Sportico report. Messi’s first year saw Miami beat the MLS supporters shield, the trophy that goes to the team that earns the most points in the regular season.
Messi’s team had a difficult start of the season (Megan Briggs/Getty images)
In the 2024 season, under the former Managing Tata Martino, Miami also established a new record league record (74) in a campaign that crowned Messi as the League MVP. The year ended in a sour note, however, when they were eliminated by Atlanta United in the first round of MLS title playoffs. Martino resigned abruptly for personal reasons and Miami hired Messi’s longtime friend and former Argentine teammate Javier Mascherano as a coach.
After a hot start to 2025, Mascherano’s team has struggled to play consistently and, in addition to Messi’s excessive dependence, which turns 38 this month, the team is devoid of a tactical identity.
How did they arrive here?
Funny you should ask.
FIFA’s complicated qualification criteria gave Miami a passage to the great dance. Miami did not win the MLS Cup final to be crowned her champions and also not close to winning the Concacaf Champions Cup. But FIFA has always reserved a host slot for the club’s World Cup, even before the competition was expanded to 32 teams from seven and has gone from an annual event to one four years.
When Miami won the shield of these supporters at the end of last year’s regular season, FIFA President Gianni Infantino had the breach that he needed to invite Messi and company to this summer competition in the United States.
“Miami loves football. The world loves football and the world loves Miami,” Infantino said in the Miami field last October. “You are the best team of the season in America,” Infantino added. “You can start telling your story to the world.”
Miami will also open the tournament against Al Ahly at 65,000 Hard Rock stadium in Miami Gardens next Saturday night. If Infantino were dead in having Messi in this first edition of the New-Lok Club World Cup, he got it. As Miami comes to her is another story.
The side is short in depth and the aged legs of Messi and his former Barcelona teammakers, Luis Suarez (38), Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba (both 36) will not be enough to make a deep race, even if Miami advanced from the group’s internship.
What is their style of play?
Give the ball to Messi and I hope it creates a moment of magic.
This seems cynical, but unsurprisingly, everything goes through Nº 10 Argentine. And you can’t blame your teammates if we are being honest. Messi remains highly effective around the penalty area and decisive when most matters. He finished the 2024 mls season with 21 goals and 17 assists (including playoffs), but ran out of Post-season Atlanta.
Miami wants to press High and force opponents to play narrowly. When it meets, Miami can be formidable in transition. The problem is with the backline and the general defensive structure. Miami leaks goals and tends to play so open that a good game spell is constantly undone by the bad defender.
It would not be a shock to see Mascherano dial the high press and play a more pragmatic style in this competition.
Tell us about the coach
Mascherano is on his first job as a professional coach.
Before he succeeded in Martino in November, he had obtained Argentina’s under-20 and under-23 male and under-23 squads and also trained the Argentine team at the 2024 Olympics, losing to host France in the quarterfinals. This was considered a massive disappointment, which led to widespread criticism of Mascherano’s insight as a manager.
Inter Miami’s manager, Jorge but and Mascherano, in his revelation (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Having played with both in Barcelona, Mascherano spoke publicly about his appreciation of Pep Guardiola’s tactics and how Luis Enrique influenced him as a player and coach. Still, there is little evidence to suggest Mascheran’s philosophy will look like that of an elite coach. His close relationship with Messi, Suarez, Busquets and Alba suggests that he received the work for reasons other than his resume.
“People may have their opinion, and these opinions are valid, clearly,” he said in December. “But I’m convinced that I’m qualified to train this team. I’m very excited to make it. The experience in football doesn’t always make sense.”
Who is the player of his star?
Less than three weeks after the age of 38, Messi does not have the same explosion as dribbling who saw him embarrass the defenders throughout the field when he played for Barcelona. Nowadays, he tends to position himself as close as possible to the goal, where he can create and finish pieces without spending a lot of energy.
But Messi, in a late stage, is still a joy to watch, even if purists can want to keep the memories of their 20-year-old dominant race as the best player in the world, instead of seeing him carrying a MLS team. He still walks around the field and sometimes gets still while the game remains around him. Today, Messi chooses his moments with more caution than ever.
“Leo has become a complete player who plays all over the field.” Mascherano told The Atletico last year. “When you have such a player, the most important thing is to give him the freedom to move where he believes the team needs him and for his teammates to understand his movements.”
Messi became increasingly frustrated with the top and down of Miami. Many of their young teammates struggle to match their advanced football IQ, who annoyed this 10 league titles winner, three champions alloys, two America and the latest World Cup for three years when the team loses games. His patience is also thinner, with MLS referees assuming the impact of Messi’s anger.
This Club World Cup can be a break.
And your rising star?
Venezuela International Senholasco Segovia is the young Miami player to watch. The 22-year-old striker midfielder is a threat of goal with a high ceiling. Segovia was signed this winter after spending two seasons in Portugal with Casa Pia. He quickly became one of Miami’s leading players and an ally on the field of Messi and striker Suarez.
Tellesco Segovia is one to watch at Inter Miami (Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images)
Segovia is a versatile player who allows him to go through the middle of the middle and attack areas and contribute both in possession and transition. He tends to make the right decisions around the opponent’s penalty area and is not ashamed to risk. There is a maturity in it that stands out.
In a team of veteran superstars that won almost everything in football, Segovia’s self -confidence and the clean technical piece were a benefit to Miami.
It is regular for Venezuela’s national team, but if he performs at a high level at the club’s World Cup, the competition may be the showcase that Segovia needs to reach all its potential.
Who are your greatest rivals?
Rivals in the state of Orlando City can be considered Miami rivals, but the truth is that the whole Messi and company team face pieces with a knife between their teeth. Miami became a dear media and a hated club of MLS rival supporters.
This is a sign that things are going as planned in southern Florida. With Messi and his companions, Miami sold out huge NFL stadiums and other neutral places. Messi’s fans ran to the field to take a selfie with him. On the road, the supporters of the opposing teams gathered outside the hotel of the Miami team, hoping to glimpse the Argentine star.
All this attention turned Miami into a MLS villain, an enemy that fans outside Fort Lauderdale like to watch. I don’t think Miami would have otherwise. “Many people are jealous of Inter Miami,” the club owner Jorge but told FDP radio in April.
Enough, he said.
Why should a neutral root?
Miami has many detractors, but Messi has legions of fans around the world. The team’s pink kit is seen around the world today, and Messi, even in the twilight of his career, still evokes emotions and fanfares usually reserved for a mega pop star.
Miami will not be the favorite in this tournament. We established this. But Messi’s presence will take her eyes to FIFA’s new baby. The neutrals will tune in to see if he still has any magic in him. Romantics will watch in the hope that he will return his clock to November and December 2022, when he finally led Argentina to the glory of the World Cup.
And that’s exactly what Infantino had in mind when he gave them that the hosts.
(Main Photos: Getty Images; Design: Kelsea Petersen)
