{"id":180002,"date":"2026-03-05T23:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180002\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T23:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:50:16","slug":"president-trump-welcomes-messi-and-inter-miami-to-white-house-highlights-iran-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180002\/","title":{"rendered":"President Trump welcomes Messi and Inter Miami to White House, highlights Iran conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump welcomed Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to the White House on Thursday to celebrate the team\u2019s 2025 MLS Cup title but began with a lengthy discourse on the ongoing Iran conflict.<\/p>\n

After the Inter Miami squad took the stage, Trump entered the White House\u2019s East Room flanked by Messi and club owner Jorge Mas, coming after an eventful day on the political front that saw him oust Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem<\/a> from her position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like champions, we like winners,\u201d Trump said, before speaking for several minutes about the military situation while the Miami group stood behind him on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. military, together with the wonderful Israeli partners, continues to totally demolish the enemy far ahead of schedule,\u201d Trump added. \u201cWe are destroying more of Iran\u2019s missiles and drone capability every single hour \u2026 We want to fight now more than they do. We\u2019ve had 47 years, depending on the way you count it, 47 years of horror with this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

The occasion evoked memories of the awkwardness of Serie A side Juventus\u2019 White House visit during last summer\u2019s Club World Cup, where U.S. internationals Tim Weah and Weston McKennie were in attendance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Inter Miami was being celebrated for its 2025 MLS Cup win. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Eventually, Trump turned to discussing Miami\u2019s visit, revealing that his son Barron had met Messi earlier in the day. Miami won its first MLS Cup by defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps in December.<\/p>\n

Trump compared Messi to Brazilian legend Pel\u00e9, asking those in attendance which of the all-time greats were better, injecting an anecdote about watching Pel\u00e9 for the New York Cosmos in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The president highlighted various contributions from Miami\u2019s successful season,<\/a> including those of Messi, Luis Suarez\u2019s performance during the Club World Cup, young forward Tadeo Allende\u2019s playoff scoring streak, while lauding goalkeeper Oscar Ustari\u00a0 and playmaker Rodrigo de Paul.<\/p>\n

There was still room for interspersed political rhetoric, however, as Trump raised the topic of tariffs, relations with Cuba, plus his friendship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and ticket sales for this summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Lionel Messi presenting President Trump with a signed ball. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Trump started a running gag about how good looking the Miami squad was, making De Paul blush. \u201cDo you have any bad looking players? I like the bad looking players much better,\u201d Trump joked.<\/p>\n

Co-owner David Beckham was apparently absent, while Mas presented Trump with one of the club\u2019s iconic pink jerseys, complete with the number 47 to recognize his presidency. Messi then gave him a signed ball while Mass added a limited edition watch to the haul of gifts.<\/p>\n

As the event closed, Trump extended an invitation to the Inter Miami to join him in the Oval Office, describing it as the \u201ccenter of the world \u2026 especially now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team is in the area to play DC United in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump welcomed Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to the White House on Thursday to celebrate the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17157,17159,17160,10151,17143,17153,17145,17147,17158,17149,15243,8095,17152,5429,8215,17156,17148,123,125,124,17155,5692,16076,17144,17142,17146,4788,14193,14240,14243,17162,17150,17154,2062,17151,4442,17161,8005,65343,4798],"class_list":["post-180002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-atlanta-united-fc","tag-austin-fc","tag-charlotte-fc","tag-chicago-fire","tag-club-de-foot-montreal","tag-colorado-rapids","tag-columbus-crew","tag-dc-united","tag-fc-cincinnati","tag-fc-dallas","tag-fifa-club-world-cup","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-houston-dynamo","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-international-football","tag-los-angeles-fc","tag-los-angeles-galaxy","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-minnesota-united-fc","tag-mls","tag-nashville-soccer-club","tag-new-england-revolution","tag-new-york-city-fc","tag-new-york-red-bulls","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-philadelphia-union","tag-portland-timbers","tag-real-salt-lake","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-jose-earthquakes","tag-seattle-sounders-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sporting-kc","tag-sports-business","tag-st-louis-city-sc","tag-toronto-fc","tag-us-mens-national-team","tag-vancouver-whitecaps-fc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}