Inter Miami were not far into their 23,000-mile, three-week preseason globetrotting tour when they started to hit bumps in the road. The star-studded roadshow featuring headliner Lionel Messi and his newest support act, Luis Suárez, was supposed to take the world by storm, from El Salvador to Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong, but the exercise has backfired. Several defeats and no-shows from the stars left spectators disgruntled, reputations diminished, and the team, as well as fans back home, unsure of how much they will get from their ageing legends once the MLS season starts.
As the tour reaches its last leg in Japan against Vissel Kobe on Wednesday, before returning to Miami for a game against Newells Old Boys, it will have witnessed boos for David Beckham, a Cristiano Ronaldo dropout, a 6-0 defeat and an almost surreal statement from the Hong Kong government expressing its “deep disappointment” at Messi’s absence.
