The Inter Miami team of Argentine star Lionel Messi tied scoreless with the El Salvador national team, in a friendly match played this Friday at the Cuscatlán stadium in San Salvador.
Inter Miami coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino started the team’s main stars, such as Messi and the Spaniards Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, as well as Uruguayan Luis ‘el Pistolero’ Suárez, who made his first appearance with the Miami team.
Fans applauded every time the recent winner of the FIFA Best award and captain of the world champion Argentine national team touched the ball, which was sparingly challenged by the players of the Salvadoran ‘Selecta’ who always marked him in blocks.
El Salvador was cautious, did not open up much, protected their defense so that Inter Miami would not have a chance to score in the game refereed by the Salvadoran referee Iván Barton. Messi stepped on the gas at times and took aim at the goal, but Salvadoran goalkeeper Mario González stopped several of his shots.
Alba and Suárez also did their best to try to score in the Salvadoran goal, but the goal did not come and the first half of the match ended blank.
As the second half started, Martino substituted Messi, Alba, Suárez and Busquets. At that stage of the game, things were more balanced on the pitch, with an El Salvador attacking more of Inter Miami’s defensive area.
But time ran out and the match ended scoreless with a very relaxed Messi watching the game from the edge of the pitch.
After playing against El Salvador, Inter Miami will have a match against FC Dallas in Texas on January 22, and then the team will fly to Saudi Arabia to play Al Hilal on January 29, ahead of the clash with Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s team on February 1.
Three days later, Miami will face a team of stars in Hong Kong on February 4, before playing a friendly match in Tokyo against Vissel Kobe on February 7. Inter’s preseason will end on February 15 with their only home game, against Newell’s Old Boys, Messi’s childhood club.
On Friday, prior to the match, Inter Miami was received by Nayib Bukele, candidate for reelection to the presidency, according to photos published by the president on his X account (formerly Twitter), which is on a six-month hiatus granted by Congress.
