Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami unveils five-match, four-country preseason trip

Lionel Messi is going on another pre-season tour Inter Miamithis time for a five-game road trip that will reign supreme MLS Supporters’ Shield winners playing in four different countries in preparation for the 2025 season.

It was announced that there would be three matches in South and Central America on Friday. Inter Miami will begin that streak with a match against Peruvian champions Club Universitario de Deportes in Lima on January 29.

From there, the club will travel to Panama to face Sporting San Miguelito on February 2, before traveling to San Pedro Sula, Honduras for a match against Club Deportivo Olimpia on February 8.

The first and last pre-season matches were already known: on January 18, Inter Miami will face Mexican Power Club America in Las Vegas and will finish in Tampa, Florida against an MLS rival City of Orlando February 14.

“We are very excited to reveal five matches against domestic and international opponents from the Americas that will prepare us for the long-awaited 2025,” said Raul Sanllehi, Inter Miami president of soccer operations. “These matches will put us in the best possible position ahead of the unparalleled campaign of various competitions we will be playing in this year – FIFA Club World Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup, League Cup and MLS.”

With 34 MLS regular season games, five preseason games and three cup tournaments under their belt, Inter Miami could easily surpass 50 games this season and will likely play even more. This doesn’t even take into account Messi’s international games and probably several other Inter Miami players.

This year’s preseason tour is not as ambitious as the one Inter Miami planned last year, which included games in Dallas, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Japan. Much of this journey didn’t go as expected: Messi vs. Krystian Ronaldo the match in Saudi Arabia did not take place because Ronaldo was sidelined with an injury, and fans in Asia were outraged that Messi missed one match there and played sparingly in another. To calm disappointed ticket holders, some of them spent more than $600 in the hope of seeing Messi on the pitch, and refunds were even given.

Inter Miami’s training camp will start on Saturday with training. The first training session under the supervision of new coach Javier Mascherano will take place on Monday.

Associated Press reports.

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