David Beckham calls for patience after Inter Miami’s 0-5 start. Here’s what comes next
David Beckham is calling for patience from fans and media after the Inter Miami team he co-owns was eliminated from the MLS is Back Tournament with three losses, dropping its record to 0-5 in its inaugural season.
The team returned home from Orlando, took a few days off and resumed training at its Fort Lauderdale complex Thursday in preparation for the planned completion of the regular season at empty home stadiums.
Once the MLS is Back Tournament concludes Aug. 11, the league plans to return to home markets and play out the rest of the season with the MLS Cup potentially pushed back to December.
Inter Miami, which entered the league with unusually high expectations and global interest due in large part to Beckham’s involvement, is determined to turn things around after a disappointing start.
Although the team has proven to be competitive, with each of the five losses by just a single goal, it has lacked offensive punch and is still chasing the elusive first victory. Captain and goalkeeper Luis Robles, calling it “one of the biggest challenges of my life,” said several veteran players gave locker room pep talks after Monday’s 1-0 loss to New York City FC that bounced them from the tournament.
From across the Atlantic Ocean, Beckham sent a message of encouragement on social media.
“Sometimes the road is long and you need to take a breather,” Beckham wrote on Instagram. “Manchester United, Real Madrid, La Liga and the premiership wasn’t built in a day. Teams, players and clubs need time to flourish, but when they do, all the hard times seem so distant. It’s important to take time to reflect on what we have achieved so far. I’m proud of my team, our club and the amazing fans that we have. Patience is a virtue.”
South Florida was abuzz in February 2014 after Beckham announced at a bayside news conference that he was launching his MLS team in Miami and dreamed of a waterfront stadium. And, so began a six-year saga with more obstacles than he and his co-owners ever imagined.
Adding to the expected challenges for an expansion club was the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic, which abruptly suspended Inter Miami’s season two days before its scheduled home debut. The COVID-19 crisis also disrupted the international transfer windows, crippling teams’ finances around the world, making it more complicated to sign the marquee players Inter Miami leadership has promised.
In June 2019, co-owner Jorge Mas said the team planned to sign three well-known players, was already deeply involved in contract talks and planned to announce their first big signing “by the end of the summer.”
“This is a city and team that is going to attract players who play in some of the best leagues in the world,” Mas said at the time. “For us it’s important to bring the best players we can. First of all, to have a team that represents our city, that plays an exciting, attractive, offensive-oriented style of soccer with a lot of goal scoring. We are very excited and impressed by the amount of interest we’ve received from players who are in the world’s best leagues who want to be part of this team, a lot because of the relationship with David.”
At the time, Beckham said he was getting calls daily from players around the world interested in joining his team.
“It’s a good problem to have,” Beckham said, of the intense interest. He also stressed that they are not looking for a player in the twilight of his career, but rather one in his prime.
“We all know how great Miami is as a place to live with your family, but we don’t want players just coming here at the end of their career thinking, `Oh, let’s go have a couple of years in Miami and I’ll play a little bit of soccer,’’’ Beckham said. “That’s not what we want. We want players who are hungry, who have played at the top level but still want to win.”
They paid a reported $11.8 million to sign Mexican playmaker Rodolfo Pizarro, and he has shown his quality in all five games thus far. Pizarro’s vision and ability to work in tight spaces have resulted in two of the team’s three goals, and he has an assist on the other. But Pizarro needs help in the attack.
Paul McDonough, Inter Miami’s chief operating officer, has been working diligently to add a few final pieces to the roster. He has been in negotiations with international players and said he hopes to sign two players in the coming weeks, including a higher-priced Designated Player.
The club signed veteran Argentine center back Leandro Gonzalez Pirez just before the MLS is Back Tournament. He trained with the team in Orlando but was ineligible to play in the event under league rules. He is now eligible to play and is expected to make an immediate impact on the back line alongside Nico Figal.
Pirez started his career at River Plate in Argentina and was one of Atlanta United’s top players from 2017 to 2019.
Coach Diego Alonso remains bullish on his players and feels they have played well enough to deserve better results.
“I think football in these three to five games has been unjust with us. We got a lot less than we deserve. I feel in the game [against NYCFC] we didn’t play as well as the one before against Philadelphia, but the team deserves more and has gotten little.
“We have to keep trying and working to improve. I don’t regret being the coach of these players. I’m with them now more than ever. I’m convinced we will get out of this believing in our team and gaining confidence and trying to get better the next four weeks so that football will give us the rewards we deserve. We have to make some adjustments, and hope to add some players who can help us to get better so we can reach our objective, which is the playoffs and to compete for a title.
Robles said the thin margins by which they have lost give him reason for optimism.
“When I first met Paul last November, this is what he proposed to me: Do I want to come to an organization that’s brand new, starting fresh, to really grow as a person and player and leader, and to me, that was an incredible proposition,” Robles said. “I never knew I’d be in the situation I am now, but that’s part of it, is helping this locker room find its way. With every crisis comes opportunity, and if we can find the opportunity and seize it and grow from it, we’ll be better off not only as players but as an organization…We will turn this thing around.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 12:38 PM.