Inter Miami hires Uruguayan Diego Alonso as first head coach. Here’s why they chose him
The wait is finally over. After a lengthy, exhaustive search that made headlines and sparked rumors across the world, Inter Miami on Monday named Diego Alonso as the team’s inaugural head coach.
Alonso, 44, is a former Uruguayan player who spent the past five seasons coaching in Mexico, where he led Pachuca and Monterrey to CONCACAF Champions League titles and qualified his teams to two FIFA Club World Cups, reached two cup finals and developed several young players that have earned international acclaim.
Inter Miami sporting director Paul McDonough, reached Monday morning, said team officials “blocked out the noise” from fans, agents and the media and found a coach he feels is best-suited for the job of leading the expansion team.
“He understands this region, he understands the type of players we’re going to have and he’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” McDonough said of Alonso. “He’s coached at two big clubs in Pachuca and Monterrey. He has very clear ideas in what he expects from players and how he expects them to work and carry themselves. I think he’s a really, really good guy. He’s someone I can work really well with.”
Alonso’s familiarity with Major League Soccer and the Americas was an important factor in the decision to hire him.
“He’s competed against MLS teams in the CONCACAF Champions League, and I paid close attention when his team was beating Atlanta United,” McDonough said. “All the MLS teams aspire to win that, and we just signed a guy who has won it twice with two different clubs.”
The club is working on his visa, and he is expected to arrive in Miami after the new year. He will bring some staff with him, and the team will complement with a few additional coaches, including someone with MLS experience.
McDonough said choosing a coach for this team was a bit different from when he helped hire coaches at Atlanta United and Orlando City because David Beckham is a high-profile owner and Miami is a high-profile global city with passionate fans who are savvy about the international game.
“Every time there’s an expansion club, there’s a buzz; but the fact that this is Miami and David Beckham certainly ramped it up a little bit,” he said. “The most important thing for us is to stay with our plan. We can’t get caught up in the outside noise because here, there are a lot of people who understand the game, and with that everyone has an opinion, which is good. But you can’t get sidetracked when the noise or criticisms come about the timing or what you’re trying to do.”
Although fans and the media pressured the club to hire a coach sooner, McDonough said he is comfortable with how it worked out.
Among the high-profile names linked to the job were former Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari, Patrick Vieira of Nice, Marcelo Gallardo of River Plate and Carlo Ancelotti, who was just hired by Everton.
“I understand the anxiety of the fans about the timeline and what we’re doing, but when you’re building a club, you want to do as much homework and research as you can,” McDonough said. “This market is unique because we’re linked, whether it’s on the players or the coaches, with so many people. Some are true and some are not true. Some things are fabricated by people outside the club just to create buzz around their players or clients, so we had to go through the process and finding out what’s best for us. We didn’t want to rush it.”
He said Alonso has been plugged in as far as recent player signings, and the players yet to come, and that he is happy with the squad.
“I’ve been very clear from the beginning that the coach wasn’t going to build this team,” McDonough said. “We the club would build this team. We found the right man to lead the group of players we’re assembling.”
Asked how many serious candidates there were for the job, McDonough replied: “I’m really, really happy to have Diego Alonso as our head coach.”
Most recently, Alonso led Monterrey from May 2018 until September 2019. He led the team to the CONCACAF Champions League title over rivals Tigres in the final in May 2019. The victory earned the Rayados a spot in the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup. Alonso also led the team to the 2018 Copa MX Apertura final in his first year. Overall, Alonso lead Monterrey for 72 games, scoring a total of 118 goals and conceding only 80 for a final record of 39 wins, 13 ties and 20 losses.
Prior to taking the job with Monterrey, the attacking-minded manager spent over three years as head coach of Liga MX team Pachuca. He led the team to the 2016 Liga MX Clausura league title and a 2017 Copa MX Apertura runner-up finish. He also led Pachuca to the 2016/17 Concacaf Champions League title, which qualified the team for the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup. Los Tuzos achieved a historic third-place finish.
Alonso is the only head coach in history to win the CONCACAF Champions League with two different teams and is now only the third current MLS coach to have won the competition.
During his CONCACAF Champions League runs, Alonso eliminated three out of his four MLS opponents. In 2016-17, Pachuca defeated FC Dallas, who had qualified after recording their most successful season ever, by a 4-3 aggregate score in the semifinals. Two years later, in the 2018-19 season, Alonso’s Monterrey beat then-MLS Cup champions Atlanta United by a 3-1 aggregate score in the quarterfinals before outscoring the 2017 MLS Cup winner Sporting Kansas City by an imposing 10-2 aggregate in the semifinals.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 11:24 AM.