Can Lionel Messi and Inter Miami really spring a surprise at the Club World Cup?

MIAMI (AP) - The Club World Cup will take Inter Miami from start-up to the global stage.

Just five years after its MLS debut, the team co-owned by David Beckham and starring Lionel Messi will have the eyes of the world on it as it kicks off soccer’s newest competition with the chance to be crowned world champion.

It’s been a wild ride.

"This is a competition that will let us see where we are standing as a team," coach Javier Mascherano said Friday as Miami enters the unknown in a competition featuring 32 of the best teams from around the globe. "No one expects us to go far, but this should be an advantage. We don't have that in our national league when people expect Miami to be the winning team."

Up first for Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday is Africa’s most successful team - Al Ahly from Egypt, which has won a record 12 African championships.

When it comes to winning heritage, there is no competition. Al Ahly, founded in 1907, has won a record 45 national league titles and 39 domestic cups - another record. It qualified for the Club World Cup three times over by winning three of the last four African Champions League titles.

Miami, meanwhile, is taking part in the tournament by more questionable means. Its place was secured as a result of winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield, a decision that was greeted with some surprise when announced by FIFA president Gianni Infantino last year, and looked even more curious when Miami failed to go on and lift the MLS Cup that season.

A tournament devised to determine the best team in the world by largely bringing together continental champions managed to shoehorn in a team that hadn’t even managed to win its own national title.

No wonder questions were raised.

Miami, however, has made a habit of pulling off the unlikely and setting its sights high.

"Our club will have a global vision," managing owner and CEO Jorge Mas said when Miami was launched in 2018 - at that time without a team or even a name.

Miami has lived up to that billing - luring star players like former Real Madrid forward Gonzalo Higuain and eventually landing the biggest of them all two years ago when signing Messi. It is no surprise Infantino wanted the Argentine great in his inaugural tournament. The presence of the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner adds glamour and interest, and boosts the chances of FIFA selling out more stadiums like the 65,000-seat Hard Rock.

"Everyone's talking about Messi 24/7 every day," said former Italy striker Christian Vieri, who is an analyst for broadcaster DAZN. "The whole world's going to be watching the first game and everyone wants to watch Messi, so it's just going be an incredible night."

Messi has not just raised the profile of Miami, but also MLS, with clips of his goals shared around the world on social media.

"The league was growing before, but ever since his arrival it's grown a lot faster. What he's done for this sport in the States is huge," said Miami teammate Benjamin Cremaschi.

With him in the team, Miami won the Leagues Cup in 2023 and the Supporters’ Shield last year, setting an MLS record for the most points in a single season.

And it is the presence of arguably the greatest player of all time, along with other star names like Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, that is driving belief Miami can make a statement over the next month.

"This club has had a short life, but this is the most important competition in the history of our club," Mascherano said. "It is only normal that a European team should win the competition, but these tournaments can spring a surprise. Why can we not be excited that we can spring a surprise?"

Miami is likely to have to win its opening game to have a real chance of advancing beyond the first stage, with Brazilian giant Palmeiras and Portuguese side Porto also in Group A.

For Messi, the tournament presents him with the unusual experience of being an underdog.

“The expectations I have are different to the ones I had when I played for other teams, but I'm eager and I look forward to competing against the best and doing well," he said.

Win or lose, Suarez believes Miami’s rapid rise is just the beginning.

"We know how the club is improving now,” Suarez said. "The last two years we've had so many people here to see us. We keeping going up and the next two or three years Inter Miami will become bigger and bigger."