Inter Miami and Al Ahly played an entertaining 0-0 draw to open the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) in Hard Rock Stadium, which mark the third draw of the Egyptian side in their last 28 CWC matches (W11, L14).
While the crowd in Miami might have expected that he would see Lionel Messi shining in the opener, the true star of the first half was Oscar Ustari while saving after saving to deny the Egyptians.
Wessam Abou Ali was the first to break on goal and forced a nice stop at eight minutes, and Ustari had to stay alert to deny Emam Ashour a little later. Ali was then refused by the offside flag before another excellent Ustari-Save, this time Achraf Dari denies a point-blank range.
The side of Javier Mascherano was wide open at the back and could not handle the rapid counterattacks in their direction.
It seemed that the opener would come just before the break when Zizo went to the ground to win a penalty, but Ustari would not be surpassed and beat the spot kick of Trezeguet before he bounces him from the rebound.
Despite their dominance, Al-Shayateen Al-Homr was almost caught just before HT, and only a great piece of Goalline defense against Ali kept the score at 0-0.
What Mascherano also said at HT seemed to have an impact because his side looked more threatening after the break.
Their first big chance at the game came when the ball fell to Tadeo Allende in the six-year box, but he could not send his efforts beyond the impressive figure of Mohamed El Shenawy, because the goalkeeper did excellent to spread.
Perhaps suffering from the heat, the game saw a decrease in the intensity in the last 20 minutes, where neither of them could seize the initiative.
There were two last chances when Messi produced a daring curly strike that was tipped on the bar by El Shenawy's flying fingertip Save, before the next corner caused panic, but eventually came to nothing.
In a heavy group with Porto and Palmeiras, both parties may be looking for three points to start their campaign, but they can both take positives from this version.
Flash score Man of the match: Oscar Ustari (Inter Miami)
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