Club World Cup kicks off Saturday. Here's what Inter Miami, Al Ahly coaches had to say

Miami Herald

2 days ago

High above downtown Coral Gables, on the sixth floor of an office building, is the nerve center for the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup, which kicks off Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium with Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami against Egyptian power Al Ahly.
It is there that hundreds of FIFA executives and staff members are working around the clock (literally) as 32 of the best club teams in the world make their way to the United States for the $1 billion month-long tournament being played at 12 venues across the nation.
In that FIFA operations center they are keeping track of each team's arrival with an up-to-the-second schedule, flight trackers and weather maps. Each team is greeted by an assigned liaison and a security officer.
Five teams arrived on Monday. Benfica traveled from Portugal to Tampa, Boca Juniors from Argentina to Miami, Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa to Sarasota, Botafogo from Brazil to Los Angeles, and Palmeiras from Brazil to Charlotte.
Six teams were scheduled to arrive on Tuesday: New Zealand's Aukland City in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Spain's Atletico de Madrid in Los Angeles; Germany's Bayern Munich in Orlando; Morocco's Wydad AC in Washington, D.C.; Portugal's Porto in Newark; and France's Paris Saint-Germain, winner of the 2025 Champions League, in Los Angeles.
From their arrival until their departure, each team's every move will be monitored.
In another area of the control room is a board that shows which teams have submitted their official tournament rosters, which are due by midnight Eastern time (3 a.m. Wednesday Pacific time). Fifty percent already had, including Inter Miami (and yes, Messi was on the list, according to a FIFA official).
Tuesday's pretournament media tour of the FIFA Miami office also included a news conference with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano, Al Ahly's newly hired coach Jose Riveira, Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, Miami Dade College president Madeline Pumariega and musical producer Emilo Estefan, who is heavily involved with the opening ceremony.
The golden tournament trophy was also on display.
Mascherano and Riveira were asked their objectives and expectations heading into the tournament.
'On one hand, the tournament catches us in mid-season, with a completely different format than the league, but also, it's a tournament that excites us very much because we know the level of clubs participating and their histories and for us to be in this competition, considering how young our club is, is a dream,' Mascherano said.
He went on to say that the most important thing is to win the opening match to set the stage for the following two group stage matches against Porto in Atlanta June 19 and Palmeiras back at Hard Rock Stadium on June 23.
Mascherano added that he is urging players to seize the moment and enjoy it, because these types of tournaments don't come along very often.
Riveira was asked about the chance to face Messi. He replied: 'We are talking about a player who changes everything, who is if not the best, one of the best of all time. We know the influence he has had on big games. We know there is more than just Messi when you are facing Inter Miami, but obviously, he is one we must pay attention to.
'When the game is over and we have some distance from the tournament, it will be memory we will always remember. But right now we are focused and we know there are a lot of things their team does well, we have to make sure they don't.'
Infantino addressed questions about lagging ticket sales for the opening match, security and whether he worried that recently implemented immigration policies would affect the Club World Cup.
He said he expected a full Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, although FIFA had to reduce ticket prices in recent weeks due to lower than expected sales.
'I expect a full stadium, we will have an incredible atmosphere, it's historic,' he said. 'We have two teams in that game with very different stories, a young team like Inter Miami that is already known around the world, and the team that has won more trophies than any team in Africa, with millions of fans around the world.'
As for security concerns, especially following the violent gate crashing at Hard Rock Stadium before last summer's Copa America between Colombia and Argentina, Infantino said there will be added precautions. He also said he does not expect any immigration-related problems.
'For us in FIFA, and for me as president, security is the top priority,' he said. 'We want the 63 matches for this tournament and the 64 for the World Cup next year to be safe. We want families and children to attend, so we started a few years ago to work with authorities. We have our own security experts, as well, so security will be at the highest level.'