In a friendly match against Al-Hilal, Inter Miami showcased an improvement in their preseason performance by scoring three goals but suffered a 4-3 defeat.
The Saudi Pro League side, Al-Hilal, took an early lead with goals from Alexandar Mitrovic and Abdullah Al-Hamdan. Luis Suarez pulled one back for Inter Miami, but Michael extended Al-Hilal’s lead.
Inter Miami fought back with a Lionel Messi penalty and a goal from David Ruiz, leveling the scores. However, Al-Hilal secured the victory with a late goal from Malcolm.
Brad Friedel, expressing his views on Lionel Messi’s impact on Major League Soccer (MLS), emphasized that Messi has had an “enormous” influence on the league.
Friedel urged MLS officials to capitalize on the increased interest generated by Messi’s presence and ensure that it leads to sustainable growth for the league.
The former USA No1 told Livescore that “the second Messi signed, his face was everywhere, pink Inter Miami shirts were everywhere and on billboards. The impact has been enormous.
“Over here we’ve been struggling to get that large lucrative television contract so hopefully this can instigate more discussions.”