Watch: Official debut in Miami! Did Messi really go to a "can't lead" team?
Beijing time today (17th), Messi officially appeared in Miami International, and he will wear the No. 10 jersey of Miami International in the new season. So what kind of team is Miami Internacional?
Miami International officially announced the arrival of Messi, a period of waiting is ushering in the end, but at the same time it is also the starting point, Argentina king will start a different journey in a new environment. In this regard, onlookers on the other side of the ocean must be very curious: what kind of team did Messi go to? In particular, the recent "note" about Miami International doesn't look very beautiful - they just lost 3-0 over the weekend, and the MLC team has just 18 points in 22 regular season rounds, finishing bottom of the league with one game less.
With this background, the good deeds have already made a noise: "Messi, isn't this going to the bad team to retire!" The peak has passed, and in the United States, it is a hot kang for wives and children! However, don't rush to conclusions, Miami International is indeed not a strong team, but to describe it as a "completely unmovable" rag is probably too arbitrary. At least last year, the 2022 season, the team made the playoffs once. At that time, they finished 6th in the East Division of the regular season, but unfortunately they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by New York City, who later reached the division finals.
As for the reason for the rapid decline of Miami International this season, fans who did not care about MLS may deduce the answer to the "nepotism mistake", after all, the team's most well-known point is "the owner is David Beckham", and Phil Neville, who was just dismissed last month, is his old teammate at Manchester United. However, this is only half true, first of all, Pei is only one of the owners, and secondly, it was Konai who brought the team into the playoffs last season, and the former England full-back was renewed in November last year.
The fact is that after entering 2023, Miami International is quite "unfavorable". They started the season very well, winning 2-0 in the first two rounds to win two straight games. But in the third round, it was against New York City, where Miami not only lost but also injured Brazilian defender Gregore, and is expected to recuperate for nearly half a year before returning from injury. This was later considered a very fatal loss , as Gregore was the team's strongest midfield barrier and had a tactical role almost no substitute.
From mid-March to late April, Miami International lost six consecutive rounds, and then finally picked up at the end of April, but it was immediately met with another bad news: midfielder Joan Mota was seriously injured and had to rest for several months. As a result, the team's two Brazilian back-to-back pillars have collapsed, which cannot be supported by temporary reinforcements and homegrown youngsters, and another losing streak began in mid-May and could not be stopped until Phil Neville's departure.
Of course, poor results are not entirely the cause of injury, and the former manager's ability to lead the team is always a bit doubtful. Xiao Nei had a "good time" in the England women's football team, but some insiders have long pointed out that he is just "more than enough" and cannot achieve real big things. After losing two main backs, Internacional Miami's already not very sharp offensive organization also appeared to be very dragging, and there were a lot of unnecessary crosses, which can be said to be quite a bit of Van Gaal's late Manchester United feeling.
In the view of American reporter Loyelli of Athletic.com, there is a more obvious flaw in the tactical framework of Internacional Miami: the lack of creative playmakers up front limits their height, but from another perspective, it seems to deliberately leave a hole for Messi. Prior to this, the team was not without investment in attacking midfield positions, and the first "high-priced players" Rudolfo Pizarro bought at the beginning of the team's establishment played here. But the Mexican has not been able to reach the heights of expectations, and Pizarro has just terminated his contract with Miami in order to make way for Messi.
It is precisely because the team lacks players of Messi's type that American journalists are still very much looking forward to the impact that the Argentine can have at the competitive level - not only because of Messi's high level, but also because Internacian Miami urgently needs some of his abilities. The team isn't the league's worst offensive firepower right now, but it's only averaging one goal per game, and veteran goalscorers like Joseph Martinez are far from playing their highest level. The 30-year-old Venezuelan striker won the 2018 AFC Golden Boot, but production has dropped a lot after the pandemic, and this year's move to Miami has been even more lacking in cooperation, resulting in only 6 goals in 20 games (but still Miami's top scorer).
With Messi, plus Sergio Busquets, who will also appear soon, and possibly Alba and some young recruits in the future, the Miami International can build a new framework, and then wait for the old main players such as Gregore to recover from injury, and the strength on paper is definitely not bad in the scope of American football. And don't forget that the team has also appointed a "championship manager" who is very familiar with Messi - Martino has led the Barcelona and Argentina national teams, and after switching to North America in 2016 to coach Atalanta United, he won the "MLC" in 2018, that is, the MLC championship.
This time back to professional football, Martino, who led Mexico to a bad time in the World Cup last year, did not make a wonderful appearance, and did not greet his old friends with a victorious attitude. However, it should be noted that the 60-year-old Argentine coach, although appointed at the end of June, officially began his first training session on July 10 due to documentation problems. Internacional Miami continued his winless streak, led by interim manager Moralis and Martino personally commanded the 11th game of the "11-game winning streak" against St. Louis City.
After that, the Argentine coach will have a different chance, and MLC will enter a month-long "off-season", with the league suspended to play only cup games. That's why Messi's new club will make his debut against Mexican side Blue Cross, which is the group stage of the Mexican League Cup. The two league champions advanced directly to the round of 32, while the remaining 45 teams were divided into 15 groups, with the top two qualifiers in each group.
It's also worth mentioning that Miami's 3-0 defeat to St. Louis is a miserable one, but it's not an upset, after all, the latter is the number one team in the West End. Of course, St. Louis City is also a brand new team, the 29th team of MLC, the club was only established in 2019, and this season is their first year of official participation, which can be called MLC's "fairy tale". But in fact, the level of strength here is not so solidified, and it will not take thirty years to go from Hedong to Hexi.
For example, Cincinnati, which currently ranks first in the league in points, was a member of the "minor league" U.S. Soccer Champions League in 2018, and only officially joined MLC in 2019 (the American league has not been relegated), only a year before Miami. And David Beckham's old club, the veteran Los Angeles Galaxy that once owned many famous players such as Donovan, Robbie Keane and Ibrahimovic, is now no better than Miami, with 22 points in 22 rounds and only 4 more points. The current boss of the "City of Angels" is Los Angeles FC, which started competing in 2018, and they were last year's championship and are currently second in the West Division. In addition, you can also find that 2019 champions New York City, 2017 champions Toronto and 2021 runner-up Colorado Rapids (Arsenal boss Kroenke's team) also have similar records to Miami this season.
Some people "fast", some "speed down", although it looks chaotic, but it just shows that Miami's opportunities are not small. In fact, this team is not "dead" in terms of the terrible season, they are indeed at the bottom, but theoretically they are not unable to catch up with the teams in the Eastern "wild card" - the current gap is 12 points less than two games. Last season, a total of 28 teams of MLS were the top 6 in the East-West Division to make the playoffs, and this year there is one more team, and the gameplay has also changed, the 8th and 9th places in the East-West Division can participate in the wild card game, and the winner will play the first round of the playoffs, that is, the 1/8 final, with the first regular season of the division.
In 2018, Miami International was established and began to compete two years later, it can be said that the preparation speed is very fast, but unfortunately encountered the epidemic, the foundation did not play well, and the famous players such as Higuain and Matuidi who were later added also proved to be too thin to completely change the tide of the war. However, if it is true that "the introduction of Messi is a negotiation that has been going on for almost 3 years", as Jorge Maas, another owner of the club, said, then it is clear that Internacional Miami has a long-term plan. Their ambition is not small, not just to make a "big business news" in the moment.
Wen | Yan Yu
Editor|Spicy soup