Messi, Inter Miami off to Ecuador, Allende and Berterame available to play
It isn’t often that Inter Miami travels to play a game in a warmer climate than South Florida, but this weekend is one of those times.
Lionel Messi and his teammates, who trained in windy 50-degree weather Friday morning, were headed to Ecuador later in the day for a preseason game Saturday against Barcelona de Guayaquil. They will be able to shed their jackets as the forecast calls for 85 degrees at kickoff at Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha.
The match Saturday will be the third stop on the four-game Champions Tour. Miami lost the first game 3-0 in Peru to Alianza Lima after just five days in training camp and won 2-1 last weekend in Colombia against Atletico Nacional.
Luis Suarez, the 39-year-old Uruguayan forward who re-signed for one more year this off-season, scored the lone goal for Miami (the second goal was a Nacional own goal).
Miami’s attack gets a boost this weekend with the addition of Argentine winger Tadeo Allende, who finally got his U.S. visa after signing a long-term contract with Miami. Allende spent last season with Miami on loan from Spanish club Celta de Vigo and was the breakout star of the club’s MLS Cup title run with a league-record nine goals during the playoffs.
The team’s newest member, Argentine Mexican forward German Berterare, is the only signee still awaiting his visa, but he can train and play on foreign soil, so he will travel to Ecuador and be on the game roster Saturday. Berterame, who left Mexican club Monterrey in a $15 million deal, made his Inter Miami debut last Saturday in Colombia.
“I think German is a great signing,” Mascherano said. “He’s a player with a very good present but also a great future, a 27-year-old with the profile we were looking for in a forward. He’s a player who can run into space, can play outside, inside, and he links up well.”
Although Berterame has not been able to train with the team in Fort Lauderdale, he is in South Florida and the club gave him a personalized workout that he has been doing on his own.
“We can’t waste any time getting him acclimated, so he will travel with us to Ecuador,” Mascherano said. “It’s a very strange situation to have a player who can play with us [in South America] but cannot train with us, but this way he can be with his teammates for a day and a half.”
Mascherano said the team will continue looking to strengthen to the roster through the winter transfer window.
He added that although the preseason scores don’t matter, the games are vital to get the team ready for the MLS season, which kicks off Feb. 21 on the road against LAFC, and the Concacaf Champions Cup in March.
Barcelona de Guayaquil is a 16-time Ecuadorean league champion and coached by Venezuelan Cesar Farias, who took over the team last month. One player who will look familiar to Inter Miami fans is midfielder Dixon Arroyo, who played for Miami in 2023.
Mascherano expects a tough game (7 p.m., One Football).
“[Farias] is a coach with a lot of experience, he has led national teams, I have faced him, he has coached in many countries in Latin America,” Mascherano said.
“For us, this type of preseason schedule against teams that play Copa Libertadores and international tournaments, especially playing them as visitors, in front of 40,000 people in an opposing field, that is something we are not as accustomed to. Our team is more used to playing domestically and I think this serves our team well, especially the younger players who don’t have as much experience.”
Inter Miami has a different look this season after the retirement of Spanish greats Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.
“Clearly, we are aware that the team this season will look different in some ways because the characteristics of the players we have this year are different in some positions,” Mascherano said.
Sergio Reguilon, the Spanish left back signed to replace Alba, sprained his knee in the preseason opener and is out indefinitely.
“It’s a shame he can’t be with us for the preseason, but in our planning, we counted on Noah [Allen] a lot as a left back and we also have Facu Mura who has also played a lot as left back as well as right back,” Mascherano said.
The Miami coach also addressed the departure of Argentine goalkeeper Oscar Ustari. The 39-year-old started most of last season but was replaced by Rocco Rios Novo for the playoffs and the MLS Cup title run. He and the club mutually decided to part ways in the off-season. Dayne St. Clair, the 2025 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year with Minnesota United, was signed, and Rios Novo returned.
“Oscar called me before the preseason informing me of this decision,” Mascherano said. “Even though he had another year left on his contract, for various reasons he wanted to leave the club. I am grateful for the season we shared. He was very, very important in the games he played and also very, very important when he wasn’t playing, with his attitude and experience to help the younger players. It’s never easy to be benched, especially with his experience, but he understood it was for the best of the team.”
Following the trip to Ecuador, Inter Miami will head back to South Florida to train and conclude its preseason tour in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, facing Ecuadorian LigaPro Serie A champions Independiente del Valle on Feb. 13.