Inter Miami vs Real Salt Lake Prediction: No great expectations on Inter Miami.

It’s the opening day of the new season and there's a lot of excitement for the long season ahead. Inter Miami will get the first challenge of the season as they prepare to take on Real Salt Lake at the DRV PNK Stadium. There will be lots of expectations on Gerardo Martino this season after significant additions to the team during the transfer window. Inter Miami still boasts of Balon d'or winner Lionel Messi within its ranks alongside Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, and all eyes would be on the team to achieve great heights this season. 

And Real Salt Lake will approach the game with one objective and that is to snatch all 3 points from the star-studded team. They had a good preseason run and they are looking prepared for the new season. Real Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni will have to set up his side to cope with the attacking threat of Luis Suarez in the Inter Miami setup. Lionel Messi can be difficult to handle at his best and Real Salt Lake will hope that it isn't just his day.

Inter Miami

Inter Miami are going to kick off their MLS campaign with a visit from Real Salt Lake at the DRV PNK Stadium. The fans expect their star names to start the game and give them all 3 points. One name that will be under the spotlight is Lionel Messi no doubt. Lionel Messi had a brilliant start to his Inter Miami career last season, scoring a freekick in his first game. He led Inter Miami to the US Open cup but at the end of the season, they were unable to make it to the playoffs. Lionel Messi’s battle for fitness for most parts of last season, was a huge worry for the club and fans. That was understandable given his age and the competitive nature of the league and national team engagements.

Those worries have however not been totally written off, as Lionel Messi had oftentimes battled through fitness issues during the preseason. The team had a very poor run in the friendly games and preseason matches. One of such games was the 6-0 defeat against Al-Nassr earlier this month. There's been no particular reason why the Inter Miami team have been a disaster throughout the preseason matches, but they would need to step up as they can't afford to drop a stinker in the opening game of the season.

Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake ended their preseason preparations with a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC on the 15th of this month. Their run during the friendly and preseason games is not going to disappoint them so much but there's going to need to step up in this new season. Real Salt Lake were involved in 4 matches since the end of the season and they recorded 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat.Their biggest win of the preseason was against Klaksvik FC and Real Salt Lake put 3 goals past the team and conceded none. And their biggest defeat was against Brøndby earlier this month. They lost the game 2-1 at full time.

Looking ahead to the new season, Real Salt Lake will be without midfielder Jefferson Savarino who transferred to Brazilian side Botafogo during the transfer window. Jefferson was top scorer for Real Salt Lake last season as he scored 8 goals in 27 MLS matches. But it doesn't look like they would miss him so much as Anderson Julio seems to be in good scoring form at the moment. He scored 3 goals in 3 friendly games and he might be leading the attacking line up in the new season. 

Head to Head

There is no H2H data available for these two teams.

Analysis and Predictions

Both teams have had a good run of games during the break to get the players prepared for the new season and Real Salt Lake looks like the more prepared team. Inter Miami are yet to put in a good team performance and Lionel Messi has not been himself throughout the preseason games. It would be a huge disappointment if Inter Miami record another defeat, but at the moment it looks more likely and once again the pressure will be on Lionel Messi to turn things around for the club. But who knows, he might just be on time with his magic.

• Real Salt Lake to Score Over 1 Goal at 1.824 Odds
• Real Salt Lake to Score First at 2.678 Odds
• Draw Full Time at 4.20 Odds