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Tokyo, February 5
It’s all been very messy. We’re talking about Lionel Messi and Inter Miami’s global tour of exhibition games where the main show has been Argentina’s 2022 World Cup-winning captain.
The matches are about promotion and marketing, hoping to build a new brand by using stars like Messi and Uruguayan Luis Suarez. Instead, the tour is getting mostly bad PR, and results that have not been much better in matches that have stretched from El Salvador, through Dallas, into Saudi Arabia, and then Hong Kong on Sunday.
The next stop is Tokyo’s National Stadium on Wednesday against Vissel Kobe, a wrap-up match on February 16 in Florida against Newell’s Old Boys - Messi’s boyhood club in Argentina, and the club that might be his final destination before retiring.
Inter Miami has been outscored 12-7 through five games and won only once. And that was Sunday in Hong Kong, where a 4-1 victory over the local team was overshadowed by angry fans holding up signs demanding a refund and booing since neither Messi nor Suarez played — both out injured and ageing. Messi is 36 and Suarez is 37, and both are more and more subject to nagging injuries.
It’s anyone’s guess if Messi will play on Wednesday in Japan, and if so, how much. Coach Gerardo Martino will certainly be under pressure to use him some. — AP
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