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Preview for Al Ahly v Inter Miami
Gianni Infantino’s brainchild will come to fruition on Saturday night in Florida as Al Ahly and Inter Miami open the inaugural, expanded version of the Club World Cup.
FIFA president Infantino will settle into his padded seat at Hard Rock Stadium and watch the 12-time African champions take on the MLS side crudely shoehorned into the competition to enable Lionel Messi to take part.
Miami won last season’s Supporters’ Shield for the team with the best regular season record before making a swift exit from the playoffs. Nevertheless, that gave Infantino everything he required to manipulate a route in for Messi.
From a fan’s perspective, that’s unargaubly good news – who doesn’t want to watch the greatest player of all time before he hangs up his boots? – but it does little to increase the credibility of a tournament that already appears one too many given the packed global calendar.
These two teams have been placed in Group A alongside Palmeiras and Porto and will, realistically, need a win here to stand a chance of going through.
Miami have the experience while Al Ahly have the youthful exuberance.
Messi is one of four former Barcelona players who have done it all at the highest level, alongside Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suarez.
Busquets admitted last month it will be a tall order for Javier Mascherano’s men to compete.
He told DAZN: “It’s clear that we are not at the level to compete at the Club World Cup, but we will try to compete in our group. Go game by game, fight and hopefully advance to the next round though it’ll be difficult.”
It was hardly a glowing endorsement for an event none of the quartet thought they’d be playing in when they agreed to wind down their careers in the Miami sunshine.
Al-Ahy qualified by virtue of winning the CAF Champions League in 2020-21, 2022-23 and 2023-24 and will arrive in the United States confident of making a splash.
Midfielder Emam Ashour was in bullish mood ahead of the opener and is relishing the chance to face Messi.
“No doubt, I’m fired up to face the best player in the world,” Ashour told FIFA.com. “I’m confident that we’re capable of achieving something worthy of our name and the Al Ahly name.”
Hard work never stops in Miami 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/snW5CfiS8f
— Al Ahly SC 🇬🇧 (@AlAhlyEnglish) June 13, 2025
Team News for Al Ahly v Inter Miami
Alba and Gonzalo Lujan missed training earlier this week but are expected to play.
Messi will also start after coming off during Argentina’s World Cup qualifying draw with Colombia on Tuesday.
Al Ahly are set to be at full-strength after reporting no issues following their warm-up game with Pachuca, which ended 1-1.
Predicted line-ups for Al Ahly v Inter Miami
Al Ahly: El Shenawi; Hany, Ibrahim, El Aash, Kouka; Attia, Ashour, Reda; Trezeguet, W Ali, Bencharki
Inter Miami: Ustari; Weigandt, Falcon, Lujan, Alba; Allende, Cremaschi, Busquets, Segovia; Messi, Suarez
How to Watch Al Ahly v Inter Miami: TV and online streams
Al Ahly versus Inter Miami kicks off at 1am in the early hours of Sunday morning in the UK. You can watch the game on Channel 5 and stream it for free on DAZN.
Ready for the @FIFACWC 🔜 pic.twitter.com/G8uNt5YGm9
— Inter Miami CF (@InterMiamiCF) June 12, 2025
Stats for Al Ahly v Inter Miami
- Al Ahly made more appearances in the previous iteration of the FIFA Club World Cup than any other African side (9). Their best performance to date is third, with the latest coming in the 2023 edition
- Al Ahly’s Emam Ashour led the entire Egyptian top-flight for goal involvements this season (20), with 13 goals and seven assists in the 2024-25 Egyptian Premier League
- Al Ahly have both won more Egyptian top–flight titles (45) and more CAF Champions League titles (12) than any other club
- Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets could play in an intercontinental competitive game for the first time since 20 December 2015, when the four started for Barcelona against River Plate in the final of the 2015 Club World Cup; Suárez scored a brace in that game, with one goal assisted by Sergio Busquets, while Lionel Messi scored the other goal in a 3–0 win
- Since joining MLS for the 2024 season, only Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi (47, 31 goals, 16 assists) has recorded more direct goal involvements (including playoffs) than team-mate Luis Suárez (42, 26 goals, 16 assists)
Prediction for Al Ahly v Inter Miami
The seems one tournament too many for many of Inter Miami’s ageing stars.
We think Al Ahly’s energy and appetite will be too much for Messi and Co.
Prediction: Al Ahly 3-1 Inter Miami
