MIAMI — DeAndre Yedlin held out his hands and gestured to the crowd surrounding him before Inter Miami CF practiced on a rainy, sticky Florida morning Thursday. It was impossible for the American right back not to laugh and marvel at how things have changed in South Florida in the past couple of weeks, since the rumors of Lionel Messi’s impending arrival finally officially became a reality Saturday.
More security guards are stationed around DRV PNK Stadium and the surrounding practice fields. Reporters now come to training in droves, from across the country and even continents away, just to watch Messi run around for 15 minutes with his new team. Inter Miami, in the span of about a week, has gone from being the worst team in Major League Soccer to the center of the sports world.
“Obviously, it’s a big difference,” Yedlin said. “The best player to ever play the game is here. ... It just feels like the city’s got a bit of a buzz to it now.
“Seeing how excited the fans are about it and the country in general is about it, it’s an exciting time to play here.”
After years of hype and rampant speculation, the moment is finally here: Messi is is set to make his debut with his new team in his new country Friday at 8 p.m. in Fort Lauderdale, when Miami hosts Cruz Azul, of Mexico’s Liga MX, in the first game of the Leagues Cup.
He won’t be alone, either: Star defensive midfielder Sergio Busquests, who played with Messi for 13 years with FC Barcelona in Spain’s La Liga, is also set to debut after officially signing with Miami on Sunday, only the exact role for both midfielders is still unknown. New coach “Tata” Martino didn’t give many specific details about his plan for Messi and Busquets, beyond acknowledging, in Spanish, the newcomers still “need training.”
“It is very difficult for people not to have expectations,” said the 60-year-old Argentinian, who has experience coaching Messi with the Argentine national team. “It may take awhile.”
In all likelihood, they’ll come off the bench to start their careers with Miami.
Either way, Miami has a major infusion of talent on the way and badly needs it.
Last time it took the field, Miami got dismantled 3-0 by expansion-team St. Louis City SC on Saturday, only a few hours after officially announcing Messi’s arrival and just a day before formally introducing the 36-year-old attacking midfielder with a blowout ceremony on his new home pitch. This time, Miami will have perhaps the two best players in the league on the field together.
Miami, which still has yet to post a winning record in any season since it debuted in 2020 and has 15 players younger than 25, is a completely new sort of attraction.
The team has rolled in extra bleachers — the same ones Formula One uses at the Miami International Autodrome each May for the Miami Grand Prix — to boost DRV PNK’s capacity from 19,000 to about 22,000 and has even talked with the Dolphins about maybe playing some games in the future at Hard Rock Stadium, which seats more than 64,000 for football games. Tickets for Messi’s Miami debut are going for more than $1,000 on average, according to TicketIQ, and fans have flooded the areas around the stadium to try to catch a glimpse of the legendary midfielder.
“In a match, it’s always normal to have some nerves,” said 20-year-old Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gomez, who signed with Miami on Wednesday, in the midst of all the Messi hoopla. “Right now, I’m a little nervous.”
This all comes with one big caveat, though.
“Nobody,” Yedlin said, “really knows what to expect.”
Off the field, Messi’s arrival has already transformed the franchise. Demand for Miami jerseys and merchandise is out of control, and “The Unveil” on Sunday attracted an enormous amount of eyeballs, even after a weather delay and despite a messy broadcast by Apple TV+. The buzz across Miami-Dade and Broward counties is for real, with murals popping up all across the region and Argentinian restaurants serving up Messi-inspired specials.
On the field, it remains unclear what exactly Messi will mean. Miami is the worst team in MLS right now, 12 points out of a postseason spot with 12 games left, and even Messi probably can’t make Miami a contender this year. He will be 38 by the time his 2 1/2-year contract ends and — even after winning his first FIFA World Cup just last year and being the overwhelming favorite to win his eighth Ballon d’Or in October, according to Bet365 — and the incentive structure is now different for the forward, with his cultural influence now bigger than any team trophy he can win in the United States.
The former is undeniable, a bigger deal even than when English superstar David Beckham, now the president and co-owner of Miami, joined the L.A. Galaxy in 2007.
“You add the greatest player of all time to a league, it’s automatically going to bring popularity,” said Yedlin, 30. “I remember being young and Beckham came. Obviously, I was already into soccer at that point, but it inspires you even a little bit more. ‘Wow, I can maybe get to play with these players.’ ”
As far as the latter goes, the first week has at least been encouraging.
Even for Miami players, tickets were hard to come by for “The Unveil,” so much so Ecuadorian forward Leonardo Campana, whose four nonpenalty goals are tied for the team lead, had to send a text in the team-wide group chat Sunday to see if anyone had any extras he could use.
Yedlin didn’t even realize Messi was in the group chat yet when he piped up to say he would figure it out.
“I was like, Whoa,” the defender said. “They’ve known each other for maybe two days, three days or something, but just to show that generosity is a great first example of how he is.”
