Star defender Jordi Alba debuts, and now Inter Miami’s dream team is finally complete
Jordi Alba was late to the party. Mother nature — and, literally, motherhood — was to blame.
The left back missed out on Inter Miami CF’s blowout introduction of its new cavalcade of stars last month because his wife was nine months pregnant with the couple’s third child, and then the club had to wait an extra 90 minutes to finally unveil its newest world-class player Wednesday because a typical summer thunderstorm swept through Fort Lauderdale right when the knockout stage of the 2023 Leagues Cup was supposed to begin.
For the crowd packed into DRV PNK Stadium, the wait was worth it. The home fans serenaded the Spanish defender by chanting his first name — “Jordi! Jordi!” — while Jorge Mas introduced him a few minutes before the Round of 32 began in South Florida.
“First of all, thank you for all the love you’ve shown since I arrived. It’s an honor for me to wear the shirt and represent Inter Miami,” Alba said in Spanish, addressing the fans and then thanking Mas, David Beckham and just about everyone else in management team. “I hope that together we can fight for titles.”
More than an hour later, he checked into a Miami game for the first time, entering as a substitute — just as star midfielders Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi did in their debut last month — in the 63rd minute to a raucous ovation.
Finally, the Miami dream team was complete, with Busquets, Messi and now Alba — all teammates for about a decade with FC Barcelona of Spain’s La Liga — reunited in Major League Soccer and on the field together to help Miami beat Orlando City SC, 3-1, and make the Round of 16 in the Leagues Cup.
Messi scored the opening goal in the seventh minute and then let Venezuelan striker Josef Martinez take the game-winning penalty kick in the 51st, and then Alba entered to help Miami close out the one-goal win against its in-state rival, with one more goal by Messi in the 72nd serving as the exclamation point.
Miami has yet to lose since Messi debuted in July and now, with perhaps the three best players in MLS on the roster, suddenly looks like perhaps the best team in North America. With four more wins, Miami can win the Leagues Cup — which this year, for the first time, features every team from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX — and make the case it truly is.
Messi, 36, has scored four goals and handed out two assists in a little more than 200 minutes across three matches. Busquets, 35, has been a stabilizing force and driver of play from his spot in the defensive midfield, with Miami outscoring teams 8-2 in his roughly 200 minutes across three games. Now, Alba, 34, gives them another two-way stalwart, who will both create scoring chances with runs up the left sideline and help clamp down opposing offenses in the back end, especially in MLS.
“The development of the team has been very fast. Two weeks ago, this team was very poor,” said new coach Tata Martino, who also joined the club just last month. “You have to take a look at the importance of the players that have joined the team. That would be a reason for the development of the team.
“They have been key in the team, but at the leadership. Robert Taylor, Josef, for example — they are clear examples. When you see that there is a good will of the newcomers, especially these ones with that quality, with that will of the existing players and all aiming at the same target, and they don’t feel overwhelmed playing with those big names next to them, you can see the development of the team.”
When MLS play resumes Aug. 20, Miami will find itself in the cellar with a long, uphill climb just to make the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs. With every passing game, Miami proves its series of high-profile additions have made a real difference — probably an even bigger one than anyone could have anticipated.
Messi is maybe the best player of all time, and Busquets and Alba are the two wingmen he hand-picked to come with him to Florida.
“With players like we have up front, they’re bound to score,” American right back Deandre Yedlin told Apple TV+. “On the flip side for the teams that we’re playing against, it puts a bit of fear in their eyes.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2023 at 12:43 AM.
