Club World Cup: Mascherano and Busquets gear up for Inter Miami’s debut | OneFootball

Inter Miami comes from a 5-1 victory over Columbus, thus reaching podium positions in the MLS. They are now five points behind the leader of the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia, but still with one game in hand.

With this brilliant performance at Chase Stadium, which included a double from Lionel Messi and goals from Tadeo Allende, Luis Suárez, and Fafà Picault, the Herons bid farewell to the domestic tournament for a few weeks to fully focus on the 2025 Club World Cup.

In the lead-up, coach Javier Mascherano and midfielder Sergio Busquets, both with experience as players in this tournament, anticipated Inter Miami's debut while starting a week of intense sports preparation, focusing on the match against Al Ahly of Egypt.

"A privilege"

Inter Miami shared the words of the Argentine coach, who as a player for FC Barcelona, won the Club World Cup title twice (2011 and 2015).

"It is a privilege for me today to be able to coach a team participating in such an important competition as the FIFA Club World Cup," expressed the coach.

"The goal is to try to compete to the best of our abilities, as we do in every competition, knowing that this is a top-level tournament and that we will face the best teams," he added.

Sergio Busquets, for his part, arrives at the Club World Cup intending to extend his personal record in the tournament, having lifted the trophy three times (2009, 2011, and 2015) also as a Barça player.

"It is very exciting to play the FIFA Club World Cup with the best teams in the world," said the Spaniard.

"We have high expectations, and furthermore, we are going to play two matches in our city, in this country, with our fans... this is what every footballer wants, to play matches of this magnitude and in this type of competition. I am very happy to debut in front of our people and in our city."

Busquets also analyzed the upcoming opponent that Inter Miami will face next Saturday at the Hard Rock Stadium. "We know it's important to start the tournament well, and we face a great team that is accustomed to this type of competition. It is a very successful team in Africa, it will be a tough opponent."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

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