Egyptian side Al Ahly held Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to a goalless draw on Sundag as FIFA’s new 32-team tournament came off to a good start in front of over 60,000 fans in Florida.
Messi was denied a storybook stoppage-time winner when he saw his curling shot from 20 yards out tipped onto the bar by Mohamed El Shenawy as Miami piled on the pressure in the final minutes of the game.
Al Ahly, who were cheered on by over 10,000 of their supporters, were left to rue a first-half penalty from Egypt international Trezeguet, which was saved by Miami’s Argentine keeper Oscar Ustari.
But the Egyptians also had El Shenawy to thank for another fine save in the dying seconds to keep out a header from Maxi Falcon as Miami pushed for three points in the Group A clash.
While there were no goals to celebrate, the game was far from boring, with Al Ahly enjoying the better of the first half before Miami improved significantly after the break.
Al Ahly opened up Miami’s defence with ease in the opening minutes of the game, and Emam Ashour was denied by Ustari after being put through by Trezeguet.
Palestine international striker Wessam Abou Ali had an effort ruled out for offside in the 31st minute, and then the Denmark-born forward had a fierce strike tipped over by Ustari.
Miami were stronger after the break with Messi going close in the 64th minute with a free-kick which grazed the post before hitting the side-netting, tricking part of the crowd into thinking he had scored.
He nearly did in stoppage time, after a well-worked short-corner, but the outstretched fingertips of El Shenawy were to deny him.
Miami faces Porto in Atlanta on Thursday before returning home to face Brazil’s Palmeiras on Monday, and while those should be tougher tests, their Argentina coach, Javier Mascherano, was upbeat.
“The truth is, we leave with the feeling that we could have won it in the second half. Going forward, we have to do what we did in the second half, not have any fear, shed whatever baggage we had, because when we play like that, we can play even with any team,” he said.
Al Ahly’s Spanish coach Jose Riveiro, who only took charge of the team for this tournament, said his team should have finished the game off in the first half.
“It’s a game of mistakes. We had a decent amount of chances in the first half to put the game in a different space,” he said before praising the team’s fans.