What you need to know as Inter Miami heads to Saudi Arabia: travel roster, how to watch

Despite the most expensive and high-profile roster in Major League Soccer history, Inter Miami has not scored a goal through its first two preseason games.

Lionel Messi and his teammates, including new addition Luis Suarez, tied El Salvador 0-0 and lost 1-0 to FC Dallas. As the team prepared to fly to Saudi Arabia Wednesday night for the first leg of its two-week Middle East and Asia tour, coach Tata Martino and veteran right back DeAndre Yedlin were asked if they were concerned about being shut out through two games.

They both had the same reaction: Of course, they would have preferred to score and win; but it’s just preseason and there is no reason to panic. There are five preseason games left to get the team ready for the MLS season opener Feb. 21 against Real Salt Lake.

“We’ve been off for six weeks, so everybody’s still getting back fit,” Yedlin said. “Everybody’s still getting back in a routine mentally. It’s preseason. Obviously, we want to win every game, but sometimes you don’t. At the end of the day, preseason is to train and get better, try different things, sometimes those things don’t work out. Sometimes, they do.

“So, when it comes time for regular season, hopefully we figured out everything we need to figure out.”

Martino concurred, stressing that player management is critical this time of year, especially with a five-country tour that covers 24,000 miles.

“It’s better to win, if you can, but that is not the priority in these first few games,” Martino said. “It’s to come out well from a demanding preseason schedule, to stay healthy, with predetermined substitutions, so there are other objectives than strictly the results, particularly in those first two games.”

Messi, Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba played just 45 minutes against El Salvador. Against Dallas, Alba was the only one of the four who went the distance. Messi, Suarez and Busquets played 64 minutes.

Martino was bothered by the defensive lapses in open space during the first game but encouraged by the improvements he saw from the El Salvador game to the Dallas game. He pointed out that Dallas’ lone goal was on the counterattack and not due to the opponent running to open space.

“I also felt we improved a lot as far as control of the game, including in goal-scoring situations, we moved the ball well,” Martino said. “If there is one concern, it’s that we didn’t score. But what we are seeking is a solid team, which little by little we will get as the roster finalizes.”

Inter Miami on Wednesday announced its 25-man travel squad for the upcoming games in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi, the Argentine-American teenager who grew up in Key Biscayne and had a breakout season in 2023, will stay home with a groin injury in hopes he can be healthy in time for the season opener.

The forwards who will travel: Messi, Suarez, Leo Campana, Shanyder Borgelin.

Midfielders: Busquets, Robert Taylor, Lawson Sunderland, David Ruiz, Gregore, Robbie Robinson (who had been injured), Julian Gressel, and MLS draft pick Yannick Bright.

Defenders: Alba, Yedlin, Noah Allen, Tomas Aviles, Israel Boatwright, Nicolas Freire, Tyler Hall, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Christopher McVey, Ryan Sailor.

The three goalkeepers: Drake Callender, CJ Dos Santos, Cole Jensen.

Inter Miami will play Al Hilal on Monday at 1 p.m. and Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s team, on Feb. 1 at 1 p.m. Both games will be shown on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass. Ronaldo has a calf injury, and it remains to be seen whether he will be fit to play the highly anticipated matchup against Messi. Either way, Martino expects two tough games.

Al Hilal leads the Saudi Pro League this season with a 17-0-2 record and Al Nassr is in second place at 15-3-1. Both teams have talented imports on their rosters.

Al Hilal features forward Aleksandar Mitrovic of Serbia, Portuguese midfielder Ruben Neves, and Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly, all of whom played in the English Premier League. Brazilian forward Malcom came from FC Barcelona and goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who played in Spain and for Morocco’s national team. Brazilian star Neymar also plays for Al Hilal, but he is injured.

In addition to Ronaldo, Al Nassr has Sadio Mane, who played for Liverpool and Bayern Munich and Aymeric Laporte, the French-Spanish center back who came from Manchester City.

Yedlin said he is taking special care of his diet and sleep habits to get through the grueling travel schedule ahead.

“I’ll be away from my kids, sometimes that’s good, sometimes it’s bad; probably from a sleep perspective, it’s good,” Yedlin said smiling, speaking of his toddler daughter and baby son.

Martino also shared a few roster updates. He said Emerson Rodriguez will return to Santos Laguna in Mexico. Jean Mota remains in Brazil working on immigration paperwork to get his green card. Injured left back Franco Negri and midfielder Coco Jean are recuperating and about a month away from returning to training.