Inter Miami forward Luis Suárez has said the Club World Cup will serve as an opportunity for young players to showcase themselves on a global stage and gain experience, while emphasizing the goal remains to win.
“Those of us who are older have already had this luck, those who haven’t should try to enjoy it, and take advantage of it,” Suárez said on Friday.
“It’s a good showcase to be able to grow and show themselves as a footballer, the younger ones especially those who want to take the step forward in football to continue growing.”
Inter Miami kick off the tournament on Saturday night at Hard Rock Stadium when facing Egyptian giants Al Ahly before going on to face FC Porto and Palmeiras in the group stage.
“Obviously, we will always have our competitive DNA, there are times when we don’t always win or things don’t go the way we want, but we will try to do it in the best way possible and go compete in every game to get the best result we want, knowing the difficulty that a tournament of this nature has due to the great teams that are competing and well knowing how difficult it is for us and trying to do it in the best way possible,” he said.
Inter Miami enter the competition with two recent Major League Soccer victories after struggling in early May. After being eliminated by the Vancouver Whitecaps from the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal, the team went on a four-game winless streak from May 10 to May 24 while conceding 13 goals.
Suarez noted the European teams participating in the Club World Cup remain the favorites to win the trophy, with Miami coming in as an underdog.
“The Europeans are better organized with the approach they have, with the plan of the players they have. We also have to be aware that they are coming off a long season, they’ve had so many competitions, they arrive a bit physically tired, but the player always has that desire to play,” he said.
“Atlético, PSG, who are coming off winning everything, City, Madrid, Juventus, Inter, they’re all very strong teams, but I think there’s bound to be some surprises. Let’s hope it’s from here.”
Head coach Javier Mascherano and co-owner Jorge Mas continue to target the knockout round of the Club World Cup, as the message remains to take the competition game by game.
