Inter Miami face Sporting San Miguelito tonight in their third pre-season friendly of their Latin America tour.
The Herons have been in impressive form under new manager Javier Mascherano with Inter Miami so far claiming two penalty shoot-out wins against Club America and Universitario de Deportes, with Panamanian side San Miguelito next up for the MLS side.
With Inter Miami confirming the signing of Maximiliano Falcon earlier this week, the Florida franchise have once again added to their squad heading into the 2025 MLS season, where the Chase Stadium side will want to challenge for MLS Cup and make a name for themselves in the FIFA Club World Cup.
First up, though, is their pre-season tour, and here’s how Inter Miami could line up ahead of facing San Miguelito later tonight.
Defense – Gonzalo Lujan makes Inter Miami debut
Defense was a major issue for Inter Miami this season, yet things have been surprisingly good for the Herons so far in pre-season, with the arrival of Falcon a big boost for Mascherano’s side heading into the 2025 campaign.
And tonight could see one such new signing make their unofficial debut in Gonzalo Lujan, who is yet to feature for Inter Miami despite being one of the first few arrivals of this off-season with Mascherano at the helm.
Although Noah Allen was impressive for Inter Miami in Peru this week, Lujan deserves a chance alongside Tomas Aviles at center-back, with Jordi Alba and Marcelo Weigandt taking up their usual fullback positions.
Midfield – Julian Gressel replaces Robert Taylor on the right
Federico Redondo and Sergio Busquets look set to be Inter Miami’s midfield spine for the new season, with Mascherano taking a real shine to the pair in the first two pre-season games given how similar the pair are.
As a result, the question of who starts out on the wings becomes an important one for Inter Miami, and tonight’s game could see Robert Taylor return to his favored left-wing role with Julian Gressel coming in on the right.
Gressel wore the armband for Inter Miami against Universitario after Lionel Messi was brought of, and with the USA international one of the best players in the squad last year, the German-born winger more than deserves a shot to impress under Mascherano.
Attack – Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez lead the front-line
With Facundo Farias departing Inter Miami this week to return to Argentina with Estudiantes, the Herons are looking short in the center-forward position heading into the 2025 season even with Fafa Picault offering cover in the position.
Yet with no new signings expected between now and tonight’s game, Mascherano is likely to once again turn to Messi and Luis Suarez as the starting attackers in his 4-4-2 formation, with the pair looking fit this pre-season.
Given that the duo started the last two games, there’s a real chance hat Messi and Suarez could only play just the first half against San Miguelito, with two more pre-season fixtures coming up before the start of the new MLS campaign.