Jordi Alba: Inter Miami Met Expectations at the Club World Cup
Inter Miami CF left-back Jordi Alba stated that the team lived up to expectations in the Club World Cup, despite the 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16, which meant their elimination from the tournament. Inter Miami remained the only MLS team that managed to qualify for the knockout phase of the tournament, after finishing second in the group stage with two draws and a victory over FC Porto.The defender emphasized that the tournament served as a learning opportunity for many of the younger players on the team, who had no experience in Europe. For former Inter Miami academy players, such as Benjamin Cremaschi and Noah Allen, the Club World Cup was the first opportunity to face a club team outside the Concacaf region in a competitive environment.“Well, we’ve had three rivals in our group who are also very strong, and we’ve been better, honestly. I’ll say it openly, we were better than the three rivals in the group, in my opinion,” Alba expressed after the match. “Today we faced a very big rival, and they really test you, but, well, things are as they are, and that’s something to be proud of.”
Jordi Alba
“And it’s what I said before: I think we’ve been better than the three games played by our three group rivals. And in the end, I always say, we are all human, and some are better or worse, but I think they have met expectations and that they have to look and see that they can also take that step forward, because they have been able to be better in our matches.” Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano added that the experience of playing on an international stage will only help the club when it returns to the Major League Soccer regular season.“With the arrival of Leo Messi, many doors have opened for everyone, and obviously, many more people admire them,” Alba added. “Also with the arrival of Luis Suárez and with the arrival of Sergio Busquets, we are trying to help all the young players grow, evolve and learn a lot for the future.”
Jordi Alba
The team will return to action on July 5th with a match against CF Montreal in the MLS, and will begin preparing for the Leagues Cup 2025, which begins on July 30th.“There is a great lesson to be learned from this. We are going to review all of this and I think that now they go hand in hand if we are going to be able to take stock of this experience,” said Mascherano. “I think this will help us when we take it to our national league. Needless to say, it depends on our own personal intelligence that we have at our disposal as a team to be able to take advantage of this experience”.
Javier Mascherano
