Messi, Inter Miami gear up for grueling MLS run after their Club World Cup exit
The tournament was fun while it lasted for Inter Miami, which exceeded expectations, got through the group stage undefeated, played in front of crowds of 60,000-plus, and came home $21 million richer for reaching the Round of 16.
Now, it's back to the grind of the MLS season, and what a grind it will be. A grueling July schedule awaits with seven games over a span of 25 days. Four of the first five are on the road, starting with a road game against last-place CF Montreal on Saturday night.
Due to its tournament commitments, Miami has played four fewer matches than most of its Eastern Conference rivals, so the next stretch of the schedule is jam-packed as the team tries to catch up.
Following the Montreal game, Inter Miami plays at New England on July 9, at home against Nashville on July 12, on the road at Cincinnati July 16, on the road at New York Red Bulls on July 19, and then at home against Cincinnati on July 26.
Inter Miami's home game vs. Atlanta, which was originally scheduled to be played this past Saturday, has been rescheduled to Oct. 11 at 7:30. The game was rescheduled after the club advanced to the Round of 16.
The team has ground to make up in the standings, as it slipped from third place to sixth during its Club World Cup break and now sits 11 points behind first-place Philadelphia Union, 10 behind second-place Cincinnati and nine behind third-place Nashville. The top seven qualify for the playoffs, which begin in late October. The eighth and ninth place teams enter a playoff for the final spot.
As if that weren't enough to keep Messi and his teammates busy, the month-long Leagues Cup, which pits MLS vs. Mexico's Liga MX, kicks off in late-July. Miami's opening group stage match is July 29 against Atlas.
Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas said before Sunday's game: 'We continue dreaming big. Irrespective of the outcome [Sunday], we're going continue dreaming so that when people think of futbol in the United States of America, they'll think of Inter Miami.
'Our goal is to lift trophies, not only within Major League Soccer, but we want to win our federation championship, to win Champions Cup, to qualify for the next Club World Cup. We want to develop a championship culture.'
Inter Miami, in its sixth year in existence, has two pieces of hardware in its trophy cabinet: the 2023 Leagues Cup and the 2024 Supporters Shield.
Four trophies were in the team's sights at the start of this season: Concacaf Champions Cup, Club World Cup, Leagues Cup and MLS Cup. Miami lost in the semifinals of the Champions Cup, and in the Round-of-16 in the Club World Cup.
The Leagues Cup is still up for grabs, as is the MLS Cup. Eighteen regular season games remain, and Inter Miami is determined to make a deep playoff run and compete for the MLS Cup after last year's disappointing first-round exit.
Messi posted a message to his 505 million Instagram followers following Sunday's loss to PSG: 'Today the Club World Cup ends for us with a loss to the reigning Champions League champions, where there are people I appreciate, and it gave me joy to see them again. We leave proudly after reaching our goal of making the final 16 of the tournament. Now, we will focus on MLS and all that lies ahead.'
Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano hopes his team will build off its Club World Cup performance. He wants to see that same heightened passion and level of play they showed against Al Ahly, Porto, Palmeiras and PSG against their Leagues Cup and MLS opponents.
'When you play opponents of that caliber, it is different from what we are used to in MLS and Concacaf, and that is no disrespect to them, but the top teams from Europe and South America are a different level,' Mascherano said. 'We have to admit that. But we should use this as a learning experience. If we can use all this experience of high competition the past two weeks, it should help us in our domestic league.'
Jordi Alba agreed that the team raised its level during the Club World Cup and must not let up.
'We exceeded expectations, but [Sunday] we found ourselves against the best team in the world; we have no regrets,' Alba said. 'MLS has its rules, but we have to be proud of what we did. This will serve us well, will give us confidence to know that we can compete against anyone if we play at the level we did in this Club World Cup.
'The feeling playing these games was different, I'm not going to lie. I spent my entire career playing against those types of opponents, with that pressure to win. We have it here, too, in MLS, we did not come here on vacation, but knowing how difficult it is to play against those [Club World Cup] opponents was an extra motivation.'
Maxi Falcon added: 'Considering how young this club is, we have to be proud of our performance. No team becomes a winner overnight. I think we showed with how we played against the three group opponents that we are capable to winning our league matches. We know the opponents always give their all against us. Now, we have to turn the page and move on.'
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New York Times
26 minutes ago
- New York Times
‘Let's see if they criticise us now' – a landmark Saudi win and what it means for football
Marcos Leonardo ripped the corner flag from its roots and hoisted it straight above his head towards the black Orlando sky. For Al Hilal, for Saudi Arabian football, it was their Olympic torch. The flame that announced their long-sought arrival on the world stage. The moment their new money was dealt in at the top table of another sport, in a new tournament that has their country's fingerprints all over it. Advertisement Their dramatic 4-3 extra-time win over Manchester City in the last 16 of the Club World Cup on Monday was enough to turn keffiyehs into handkerchiefs. Inches away from FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Al Hilal president Fahad bin Nafel buried his head into his hands and sobbed. At full time, just shy of midnight local time, he stood in front of the tunnel and hugged every player and member of staff who helped the 2021 Asian Champions League winners defeat the most successful English football club of the last 15 years to seal a place in the quarter-finals against Brazilian side Fluminense. Few celebrations are as wildly chaotic as this, but it was fitting for a game that had witnessed Al Hilal at one point refusing to restart for over two minutes as they tried to force the referee to visit the VAR monitor. Once the dozens of players and staff had eventually disembarked from the pitch, Al Hilal's fans came sweeping through the concourse like a hurricane, chanting 'ole, ole, ole'. Some waved flags, some rode on shoulders and others rocked a Manchester United jersey with glee. One Saudi journalist was telling anyone who would listen that these 120 minutes were even better than his wedding day. His brother, on the phone from Riyadh to share the moment, said he would break his arm if he was there in person because he would hug him so tightly. It was a scene being repeated dozens of times with people dotted around on the grass outside the Camping World Stadium, shrieking with euphoria down the phone to their family and friends at home, sharing a moment few thought they would experience. This result — in what was the best game of the tournament so far — was well ahead of schedule. It is only two years since Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) took control of four Saudi Pro League clubs, including Al Hilal, and decided to aggressively pursue the best talent in the world. The Europeans who moved to Saudi Arabia have regularly been accused of placing cash before career, but Al Hilal, deprived of their two best players in Aleksandar Mitrovic and Salem Al Dawsari, blitzed past Manchester City on the counter-attack time and again. This was further proof that this is not like China's dabble in football the previous decade. It is not a collection of expensive individuals that has been assembled; it is a cohesive team with a clear aim to upend the European hegemony and establish the Saudi Pro League as a direct competitor. Advertisement 'Let's see now if they will criticise us after this game,' said midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, now 30, who joined two years ago from Lazio. 'We showed them it's not like they think. The league isn't how they speak about it. A lot of the perceptions (about Saudi) are untrue. I am running more there than I did in Serie A.' Is it a one-off game that does not tell us anything of substance, or is it another checkpoint in Saudi football's inevitable rise? If it legitimises the league in the eyes of enough peak-age players, then it will be the latter, but there are two prisms through which to view a triumph that could well come to mark a fundamental shifting of the sands. The simpler one is to appreciate the joy it brought to one of the best-supported teams at the tournament. Some Europeans may presume that there was no football culture in Saudi Arabia before the wave of investment, but it was a passionate football nation beforehand. 'I know Al Nassr have Cristiano Ronaldo, but we're the biggest club in Saudi Arabia — around 40 per cent of Saudis support us,' Al Hilal CEO, Esteve Calzada, told The Athletic before the famous win. 'Our games here have been huge news in Saudi Arabia. Everyone is watching. And thousands of our fans have come to the United States to watch us, as well as Saudis based here. There were about 15,000 fans at our game in Nashville (against Pachuca), and at least two-thirds of them were supporting Hilal. We think thousands of them have flown over to support us.' The Saudi embassy in the U.S. had been offering free tickets in the lead up to the game, and while Al Hilal usually help subsidise flights and accommodation for fans at games such as these, this tournament was an exception. It meant there was no official ultras group but a block of Al Hilal fans — all decked out in royal blue and waving flags the entire game — that somehow conquered an entire section. Other fans dotted around the lower tier walked around to join them in an attempt to make it more raucous, and a City fan even turned his jersey inside out and began singing along to new chants. Advertisement The more complicated puzzle to solve is what this could mean for the geopolitics and power dynamics of the game. FIFA president Infantino was quick to declare the result as the harbinger of an intercontinental battle. 'A new era of football has definitely started', he said on Instagram. His personal investment in this tournament succeeding is obvious, but the triangle of power that has driven the creation of this newly expanded tournament — FIFA, broadcaster DAZN and the Saudi state's public wealth fund PIF, whose acronym was plastered around the advertising boards all game — adds multiple layers. One of the features of Infantino's presidency has been courting U.S. and Saudi investment as he seeks to globalise the game and raise the sport's annual revenue to half a trillion dollars. These are the two nations where he sees the most investment opportunities and, as such, the U.S. played host while Saudi Arabia provided the financial means necessary to entice the European clubs into signing up to the new tournament. PIF invested a reported $1billion (£730m) in DAZN, which made the entire competition free-to-air, and in turn, FIFA offered a total prize pot of $1bn. This tournament provided Al Hilal with the global platform they have been waiting for. Two years ago, when the recruitment drive started and backroom staff were being poached from top clubs around Europe, the Club World Cup was one of the main topics of conversation. In April, FIFA visited Riyadh as part of the Club World Cup trophy tour. To the surprise of some present, Al Hilal were thinking about winning it. This breakthrough moment has been years in the making. In 2016, the state outlined its Saudi Vision 2030 — a project that aims to diversify the economy and cement its reputation as a tourist hub and the home of elite sport — and there is the 2034 Road to the World Cup they are building up to. They have since been awarded a permanent Formula One race track, become the de facto home of major boxing fights, established LIV Golf to rival the PGA Tour and, in tennis, created the Six Kings Slam while hosting the WTA finals too. These events tend to fall within Riyadh Season, a banner created in 2019 to help drive tourism, but football was a richer and more saturated market. They had to make a big splash, and that came in January 2023 when five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr. Six months later, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Sport announced that PIF had taken control of four Saudi Pro League clubs — Al Ahli, Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Al Nassr. Over $1bn in transfer fees were paid, with big names such as Karim Benzema, Neymar and N'Golo Kante being lured by the riches on offer. Advertisement In the same year, they hosted the 2023 Club World Cup (Manchester City beat Fluminense 4-0 in the final), and have also hosted both the Italian and Spanish Super Cups. The biggest prize of all, however, came when they were awarded the 2034 World Cup after the FIFA Council decided to adopt a 'principle of confederation rotation' to ensure that all six confederations had a fair share. Qatar 2022 would have ruled out Saudi Arabia until 2042 but, as the 2030 edition is spread across three confederations, the Gulf state was able to present their bid unopposed. PIF own 75 per cent of the four Pro League clubs, with a 25 per cent stake belonging to Al Hilal Non Profit Foundation, which is owned by one of Saudi's richest men in Prince Al Waleed bin Talal. Other clubs are due to be brought into private ownership as they seek to strengthen the depth of the league. Saudi Arabia's quest for global power is inextricably linked to its investment in sport. It has been viewed as 'sportswashing' by groups such as Amnesty International, a way of using the association with glamorous, popular events as a deflection from negative actions and human rights abuses. In 2019, then-future (and now former) U.S. president Joe Biden said Saudi Arabia would be treated as a 'pariah' after Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity remains illegal, due to the country's interpretation of Sharia law, and can result in a prison sentence or even capital punishment. Despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's 2022 assertion that the death penalty had been eliminated except for murder cases as part of an attempt to modernise the country by 2030, Saudi Arabia executed 330 people in 2024 — the most in decades. Advertisement In its evaluation report, FIFA only graded the country's human rights as a medium risk. Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International's head of labour rights and sport, called that report an 'astonishing whitewash of the country's atrocious human rights record.' After the victory over City, The Athletic asked Al Hilal supporters if they accept the view of many critics that the country's massive spending on football is an attempt to improve the public image of their country. 'It's just an investment,' says Abdulaziz, who has travelled from Riyadh to follow the team for the duration of their stay. 'We can sell it the next day, so it's not washing. Any country has the right to invest abroad. It is considered soft power for the country, and all countries have done it before, but when Saudi do it some people have double standards. 'When people in the UK saw Newcastle win after so many years, they realised it is good for the region. Finally the Middle East is on the map for good news instead of bad news. People are enjoying watching us.'
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ACC Football 2025 All-Conference Team
ACC Football 2025 All-Conference Team originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The 2025 All-ACC Team is led by 16 selections from Clemson, with Miami (15), SMU (14), and Duke (12) headlining the next tier of teams with the most picks on the all-conference squad. Advertisement With the release of the Athlon Sports 2025 College Football Preview Magazine, it's time to take a look at the best of the best and honor the top players in the league with a release of first, second, third and fourth all-conference teams for '25. An important note on the all-conference teams: These are based on how players will perform in 2025. Career statistics and awards matter in the evaluation, but choosing players for the 2025 all-conference team is largely based on predicting and projecting the best for the upcoming year. Also, team strength does not play a role in selections. These are the best individual players at each position in the league for '25. ACC 2025 Preview: Predictions | Coach Ranks | 136 | Toughest Schedules Related: College Football's 2025 All-America Team ACC Football 2025 All-Conference Team Clemson QB Cade Klubnik© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images First-Team Offense QB Cade Klubnik, Clemson RB Isaac Brown, Louisville RB Jamal Haynes, Georgia Tech All-Purpose Desmond Reid, Pitt WR Antonio Williams, Clemson WR Bryant Wesco Jr., Clemson WR Chris Bell, Louisville WR Caullin Lacy, Louisville TE Justin Joly, NC State C Pete Nygra, Louisville OL Keylan Rutledge, Georgia Tech OL Francis Mauigoa, Miami OL Blake Miller, Clemson OL Brian Parker II, Duke OL PJ Williams, SMU Advertisement Related: ACC Predictions for 2025 First-Team Defense Clemson DL TJ ParkerBob Donnan-Imagn Images DL T.J. Parker, Clemson DL Peter Woods, Clemson DL Rueben Bain, Jr., Miami DL Darrell Jackson, Florida State DL Jordan van den Berg, Georgia Tech LB Kyle Efford, Georgia Tech LB Kyle Louis, Pitt LB Wade Woodaz, Clemson LB Rasheem Biles, Pitt CB Avieon Terrell, Clemson CB Chandler Rivers, Duke S Isaiah Nwokobia, SMU S Terry Moore, Duke S Ahmaad Moses, SMU First-Team Specialists K Collin Rogers, SMU P Jack Stonehouse, Syracuse KR Keelan Marion, Miami PR Jacob De Jesus, California Second-Team Offense Wake Forest RB Demond ClaiborneNeville E. Guard-Imagn Images QB Carson Beck, Miami RB Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest RB Mark Fletcher, Miami All-Purpose Hollywood Smothers, NC State WR Malik Rutherford, Georgia Tech WR Jordan Hudson, SMU WR Duce Robinson, Florida State WR Eric Rivers, Georgia Tech TE RJ Maryland, SMU C Luke Petitbon, Florida State OL Jude Bowry, Boston College OL Lyndon Cooper, Pitt OL Tomas Rimac, Virginia Tech OL Jacarrius Peak, NC State OL Logan Parr, SMU Advertisement Related: Ranking All 136 College Football Teams for 2025 Second-Team Defense Miami DL Akheem MesidorReinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports DL Akheem Mesidor, Miami DL Wesley Williams, Duke DL James Williams, Florida State DL Brandon Cleveland, NC State DL Jimmy Scott, Pitt LB Stanquan Clark, Louisville LB Sean Brown, NC State LB Sammy Brown, Clemson LB Cade Uluave, California CB Jeremiah Wilson, Florida State CB Rashad Battle, Pitt CB OJ Frederique Jr., Miami S Khalil Barnes, Clemson S Nick Andersen, Wake Forest S Duce Chestnut, Syracuse Second-Team Specialists K Nolan Hauser, Clemson P Kade Reynolds, Duke KR Cam Ross, Virginia PR Desmond Reid, Pitt Third-Team Offense SMU QB Kevin Jennings© Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images QB Kevin Jennings, SMU RB Gideon Davidson, Clemson RB Duke Watson, Louisville RB Yasin Willis, Syracuse RB Turbo Richard, Boston College WR CJ Daniels, Miami WR Kenny Johnson, Pitt WR Noah Rogers, NC State WR Darrell Gill Jr., Syracuse All-Purpose Jaylin Lucas, Florida State TE Elija Lofton, Miami C James Brockermeyer, Miami OL Micah Pettus, Florida State OL Walker Parks, Clemson OL Logan Taylor, Boston College OL Anez Cooper, Miami OL Daniel King, North Carolina OL Anthony Carter Jr., NC State OL Brady Wilson, Virginia Advertisement Related: Ranking the ACC Coaches for 2025 Third-Team Defense DL Will Heldt, Clemson DL David Blay, Miami DL Pryce Yates, North Carolina DL DeMonte Capehart, Clemson DL Cameron Robertson, SMU LB Wesley Bissainthe, Miami LB Tre Freeman, Duke LB Dylan Hazen, Wake Forest LB Daveon Crouch, Boston College LB Kam Robinson, Virginia CB Amari Jackson, Boston College CB Ahmari Harvey, Georgia Tech CB Collin Wright, Stanford CB Thaddeus Dixon, North Carolina S Shyheim Brown, Florida State S KP Price, Boston College S Zechariah Poyser, Miami Third-Team Specialists K John Love, Virginia Tech P Daniel Sparks, Virginia KR Samuel Singleton Jr., Florida State PR Tucker Holloway, Virginia Tech Fourth-Team Offense Georgia Tech QB Haynes KingVasha Hunt-Imagn Images QB Haynes King, Georgia Tech RB Xavier Brown, Virginia RB Jaquez Moore, Duke RB Terion Stewart, Virginia Tech RB Davion Gause, North Carolina WR Trell Harris, Virginia WR T.J. Moore, Clemson WR Lewis Bond, Boston College WR Que'Sean Brown, Duke WR Kobe Paysour, North Carolina TE Sam Roush, Stanford C Addison Nichols, SMU OL Joe Fusile, Georgia Tech OL Da'Metrius Weatherspoon, Syracuse OL McKale Boley, Virginia OL Matt Craycraft, Duke OL Fa'alili Fa'amoe, Wake Forest OL Justin Pickett, Duke OL BJ Williams, Pitt Fourth-Team Defense DL Isaiah Smith, SMU DL Sean FitzSimmons, Pitt DL Vincent Anthony Jr., Duke DL Aidan Keanaaina, California DL Ben Bell, Virginia Tech DL Clev Lubin, Louisville LB Elijah Herring, Florida State LB Caden Fordham, NC State LB Alexander Kilgore, SMU LB TJ Quinn, Louisville LB Caleb Woodson, Virginia Tech CB Davaughn Patterson, Wake Forest CB Deuce Harmon, SMU CB Xavier Lucas, Miami S Antonio Clary, Virginia S Javon McIntyre, Pitt S Carter Davis, Boston College Fourth-Team Specialists K Emmet Kenney, Stanford P Marshall Nichols, Georgia Tech KR Chris Johnson, SMU PR Que'Sean Brown, Duke Advertisement Related: ACC Football 2025 Predictions Related: ACC Coaches Talk Anonymously About Conference Foes for 2025 Related: Athlon Sports 2025 College Football Preview Magazine Available Now This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
28 minutes ago
Saudi Arabia's great soccer experiment is paying off spectacularly at the Club World Cup
MANCHESTER, England -- The great Saudi Arabian soccer experiment is on full show at the Club World Cup. The oil-rich kingdom, which is spending billions of dollars to become a major player in the world's most popular sport, scored a big win on the field Monday when Al Hilal beat Premier League giant Manchester City 4-3 to advance to the quarterfinals. It was a seismic result in soccer terms; possibly the biggest upset of the tournament and precisely the type of statement Saudi Arabia has wanted to make since embarking on a project that will ultimately see it stage the World Cup in 2034. 'We wanted to show that Al Hilal has the talent, the power to be here,' said defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who was among a slew of star players paid fortunes to leave Europe's top clubs for the Saudi Pro League in recent years. The biggest of them all was Cristiano Ronaldo, who completed one of the most stunning moves in soccer history when joining Al Nassr for a reported salary of up to $200 million a year in 2022. That deal prompted a spectacular recruitment drive by Saudi teams — backed by the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund — and in came superstars like Neymar and Karim Benzema, while audacious attempts were made to sign Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. Confirmation that Saudi Arabia had won the right to host the World Cup came in December. On the field, the Club World Cup was the first chance for the country to make a global statement about the growth of its domestic game, which is largely unheralded outside of Asia. It is likely why Al Hilal — Saudi Arabia's most successful team — was so eager to make another marquee signing before the tournament began and tried, but failed, to lure Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes. It pulled off a coup by hiring coach Simone Inzaghi. The Italian arrived after leading Inter Milan to a second Champions League final in three seasons and he is already making a mark with his new team after drawing 1-1 against Real Madrid in the group stage and then beating City. 'We had to do something extraordinary because we knew how good Manchester City are, we knew we had to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, and we were great," Inzaghi said. The broader picture is what Al Hilal's run says about the standard of soccer in Saudi Arabia, which has been dismissed by some as a cash grab for players, who can earn far more than if they'd remained in Europe. 'Let's see now if they will criticize us after these games," said midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who joined Al Hilal from Italian team Lazio. 'It's not like how they are speaking about the league.' Despite recruiting so many players from Europe's top clubs — including Champions League winners N'Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino — it is difficult to judge the quality of the Saudi League. To put Al Hilal's run into context: while it may have won a record 19 league titles and four Asian championships, it is not the Saudi Arabia's reigning national champion, having been beaten to the title by Benzema's Al-Ittihad last season. Another Saudi team, Al-Ahli, which counts former Liverpool forward Firmino and ex Manchester City winger Mahrez among its players, won the Asian Champions League this year. Ronaldo, meanwhile, is yet to win the title in three attempts with Al Nassr — pointing to the depth of strength in the league. Al Hilal's performances have also come despite releasing Brazil great Neymar in January and with leading scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic having played no part so far because of injury. The question now is how far Al Hilal can go. Next up is Brazil's Fluminense in the quarterfinals in Orlando on Friday. City's exit — along with Inter Milan's defeat to Fluminense — has opened up that side of the draw, which also features Palmeiras and Chelsea. On paper it looks like the favorable side of the draw, with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain on the other side. But the success of Brazilian teams has been another theme of the tournament and Al Hilal will have to beat at least one more if it is to advance to the final. Inzaghi, however, is used to overachieving. His two Champions League finals with Inter Milan came despite having an aging team and relying on savvy deals in the transfer market to pick up free agents and veteran players. Inter's victory against Barcelona in the semifinals of this year's competition was one of the all-time classic contests — winning 7-6 on aggregate. Al Hilal's impressive run has come after Inzaghi spent just one week training with the team before the tournament. Even if it is eliminated in the next round, a quarterfinals appearance would represent an outstanding campaign for a team that was not expected to compete for the title. Saudi Arabia's growing influence on sport — which also includes LIV Golf, world championship boxing, F1 and the buyout of Premier League team Newcastle — will continue to raise accusations it is 'sportswashing' its reputation. Amnesty international called it 'reckless' to grant it the World Cup over concerns about the country's human rights record.
