Messi, Inter Miami open training camp under new coach Mascherano. Here’s how it went

Lionel Messi showed up to work Monday morning in a black Inter Miami ski cap for the first training session of 2025 that was open to the media.

The sun was shining, and the temperature had hit 70 degrees by the start of practice, but Messi looked comfortable in his winter beanie as his friend and former teammate Javier Mascherano began his tenure as coach following the unexpected resignation of Tata Martino at the end of last season.

Mascherano is just getting to know most of the players on the roster, but he is quite familiar with the team’s headliners: MLS MVP Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. He played with Messi on the Argentine national team, and all four of the Miami stars were teammates of Macherano’s with FC Barcelona.

Mascherano, 40, has been taking an Inter Miami crash course since he was hired because despite his stellar playing career, he has never coached a professional team and has no experience in Major League Soccer. The pressure is on, as Inter Miami was atop the standings the entire 2024 regular season, won the Supporters’ Shield, set a league record for points, but tumbled in the first round of the playoffs.

Players reported to camp Friday and trained for the first time Sunday. Mascherano has less than a week to get the team ready for its first preseason game Saturday in Las Vegas against Mexican champion Club America.

Ten days later, they embark on their “Americas Tour”, a trio of exhibition matches in Peru, Panama and Honduras before returning to the United States for a final test game Feb. 14 in Tampa against Orlando City.

Messi and the rest of the players showed up fit, Mascherano said, but he was not ready to discuss potential starting lineups or how many minutes anybody would play on Saturday in Las Vegas.

“It’s too early to answer those questions,” Mascherano said. “The objective is to get all the players ready physically and tactically for when the official competitions start. We will have a few preseason games that will allow us to compete, but in terms of minutes, that will depend on how the players are feeling. We don’t want to take any risk with the older players or the younger ones.”

His most pressing concern is getting a few reinforcements signed and in camp in the coming days to replace the six players who left.

Among the top priorities is goalkeeper, as starting keeper Drake Callender is in camp with the U.S. national team for the next 10 days, backup CJ Dos Santos was traded to San Diego FC, and Argentine 38-year-old Oscar Ustari, who signed with Miami late last season, remained in negotiations for a contract extension.

“We are waiting for them to finalize paperwork [to sign a goalkeeper],” Mascherano said. “The reality is as of right now we don’t have a keeper. We are training with one keeper from our academy, but we can’t play without a goalkeeper and clearly, we are not going to expose an academy player [in a preseason game].”

Callender said it was odd being able to hear his Inter Miami teammates in training while he was with the U.S. team on an adjacent field, but he feels the experience he is getting with new U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino is invaluable and will serve him well when he returns to his club.

He had high praise for new U.S. goalkeeper coach Toni Jimenez, who played in La Liga and for the Spanish national team, calling his sessions “demanding and clever”.

“It’s hard work, it’s challenging, and I feel like [Pochettino] is creating an environment that tests you,” Callender said. “The stuff in the gym has been great. There’s been some stuff I’ve never seen before, but I see how it turns over to the field. The stuff on the field has been great. I feel like I’m growing like a goalkeeper.”

Meanwhile, forward Fafa Picault, one of the new players in Inter Miami camp, is feeling at home. The 33-year-old Haitian American spent his teen years in Cutler Bay, where his family still lives. He attended Miami Killian High School and played for local youth clubs and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers before heading overseas.

Picault spent the past eight seasons in MLS, most recently with the Vancouver Whitecaps. He is delighted to be back home.

“Once the [Inter Miami] club was formed, I wanted to be back, but it never came to fruition. It was always in the back of my head, `What if?’ and the fact that it’s a reality now is surreal,” Picault said. “It’s an emotional feeling for myself and my family and all my close friends who watched me in the youth teams out in Miami.”

He said he has received a warm welcome from the Haitian community and hopes he can bring joy to Haitians and inspire youth from that community to dream about playing professional soccer.

He is eager to play alongside Messi and other world-class teammates. He has been able to communicate with them easily, as he is fully proficient in Spanish. Asked how his Spanish got so good, Picault smiled and replied: “I grew up down south in Kendall, Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay. 305. A lot of the players I grew up with spoke more Spanish than English.”

Picault has already noted through two training sessions that the precise passing he is receiving will make his job easier.

“I’m really excited about that and the quality of players all around the pitch,” he said. “It brings positive attention to futbol in America, and it’s in my city. It’s going to be a great year and I can’t wait to put my head down and get to work.”

Yannick Bright, who evolved from a little-known rookie draft pick to starting defensive midfielder last season, is also eager to get going with the new coaching staff.

“I don’t really know what to expect,” Bright said. “It’s been the first days and I know that it is a different system from what Tata use to play; so, we’ll see.”

Bright added that he is eager to learn from Mascherano, who played the same position as him during most of his career.

“I’m really excited to work with him,” Bright said. “He played in the best stages. He knows my position, and played a couple different positions, so I’m all about learning what he knows and improving what he tells me to improve. I’m at his service.”

Messi, Inter Miami 2025 Preseason Schedule:

Jan. 18 (10 p.m. ET) | Club América | Allegiant Stadium | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Jan. 29 (8 p.m. ET) | Club Universitario de Deportes | Estadio Monumental | Lima, Peru

Feb. 2 (5 p.m. ET) | Sporting San Miguelito | Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez | Panama City, Panama

Feb. 8 (8 p.m. ET) | Club Deportivo Olimpia | Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano | San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Feb. 14 (7:30 p.m. ET) | Orlando City SC | Raymond James Stadium | Tampa, Florida, United States