Inter Miami’s postseason tour to China called off

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Inter Miami has announced its scheduled two-game postseason tour of China has been canceled after tour promoter NSN pulled the plug, blaming the recent death of Chinese premier Li Keqiang for the decision.

The MLS side was scheduled to play Qingdao Hainiu FC this Sunday and Chengdu Rongcheng next Wednesday, Nov. 8, but rumors of the tour’s demise had been circulating for days thanks to reports of ticketing issues.

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“The tour promoter, NSN, has informed Inter Miami CF of the cancellation of its China Tour due to unforeseen circumstances in China,” the club said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Inter Miami’s ambition remains to expand its global reach by playing in front of incredible fans from across the globe; the club will continue to explore future opportunities with NSN to achieve this goal.”

In addition to the foreign exposure for Inter Miami, the tour was also expected to provide Lionel Messi with some much-needed game time heading into Argentina‘s crucial upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay on Nov. 16 and Brazil on Nov. 21.

Messi’s most recent outing for Miami came when he played the full 90 minutes at Charlotte on Oct. 21, so the 36-year-old will have not played a competitive game for nearly a month when Argentina resume their qualifying campaign.

Messi, who returned to South Florida earlier this week after winning his record eighth Ballon D’or in France on Monday, won’t be involved again in CONMEBOL qualifying until September 2024, by which time Inter Miami will be in the home stretch of its next MLS campaign.