Messi no show
Inter Miami and Al Ahly played out an entertaining 0-0 draw to open the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) at Hard Rock Stadium, marking the Egyptian side’s third draw in their last 28 CWC matches (W11, L14)
Whilst the crowd in Miami may have expected to see Lionel Messi shine in the opener, the true star of the first half was Miami goalkeeper Óscar Ustari as he made save after save to deny the Egyptians. Wessam Abou Ali was the first to break through on goal and force a fine stop on eight minutes, and Ustari had to remain alert to deny Emam Ashour moments later. Ali was then denied by the offside flag before another outstanding Ustari save, this time denying Achraf Dari from point-blank range. Javier Mascherano’s side were wide open at the back and couldn’t cope with the rapid counter-attacks that were coming their way.
It looked like the opener would come just before HT when Zizo went to ground to win a penalty, yet Ustari wouldn’t be bested, beating away Trézéguet’s spot-kick before bouncing up to deny him from the rebound too. Despite their dominance, Al-shayateen Al-homr were almost caught out just before HT, and only a great piece of goalline defending from Ali kept the score at 0-0.
Whatever Mascherano said at HT appeared to have an impact as his side looked more threatening after the break. Their first major chance of the game came when the ball fell in the six-yard box to Tadeo Allende, but he couldn’t steer his effort past the imposing figure of Mohamed El Shenawy, as the goalkeeper did excellently to spread himself. Perhaps suffering from the heat, the game saw a drop in intensity in the final 20 minutes, with neither side able to seize the initiative.
There were two final chances when Messi produced an audacious curling strike that was tipped onto the crossbar by El Shenawy’s flying fingertip save, before the following corner caused panic but ultimately came to nothing. In a tough group with Porto and Palmeiras, both sides may have been looking for three points to kick-start their campaign, but they can both take positives from this performance.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Óscar Ustari (Inter Miami)
