We are three years away from the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to America, but the hype for soccer is already spreading through North Texas — from cities competing to become home for visiting national teams to pushing to host matches on their stadiums to organizing a scavenger hunt to amp the excitement of what’s to come. And now, arguably the number one best soccer player in the world is coming to Frisco for a match against FC Dallas this weekend.
Fresh out of winning the 2022 World Cup, representing his home country as the team captain, Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami on July 2023 leaving behind two years of playing for the French Paris Saint-Germain FC. According to The Sporting News, in his first month on the team, he’s scored a total of 5 goals between three games played against Cruz Azul, Atlanta United and Orlando City, reaching a rate of one goal every 40 minutes. Next in line to face the Argentinian soccer star’s team is FC Dallas in Frisco for round 16 of the Leagues Cup.
“At the beginning of the tournament, I was not expecting us to take on Inter Miami CF,” said FC Dallas forward Alan Velasco during a post-game interview on August 2, 2023. “We are going to welcome Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF until the game starts. It will be a dream to play against Messi.”
Velasco delivered his first Leagues Cup goal Wednesday night in a match against Mazatlán FC at Toyota Stadium. Following Velasco, forward Eugene Ansah scored FC Dallas’ second goal of the night 75 minutes into the second half of the game, securing the team’s victory 2-1 and allowing the team to move forward and host Inter Miami this Sunday, August 6 in Frisco.
“I hope the Leagues Cup tournament helps us get back on track in MLS play,” said FC Dallas Head Coach Nico Estévez after the match against Mazaltán. “Prior to the Leagues Cup, we hit a phase of injuries, where we lost our style of play and Leagues Cup has helped us recover it and helped us get our players back into game rhythm. Our play style has evolved positively throughout the tournament. We are very happy to get to the Round of 16 after three different games against three different teams.”
Frisco residents can expect the Messi-mania to take over the town. On July 2023 during Messi’s first game for Inter Miami, Messi’s fans packed the Fort Lauderdale stadium to see his winning debut.
Tickets for the game go on sale Thursday, August 3 at 11:00 a.m. and can be purchased at FCDallasTickets.com