MIAMI — First things first. The nickname.
Gerardo “Tata” Martino, who met with the media Thursday for the first time since being named Inter Miami coach, has been known as Tata his entire career.
“The nickname was given to me when I was very young, as a boy, and the origin I really don’t remember,” said Martino, the 60-year-old Argentine who will lead the Lionel Messi era of the MLS club. “But yes, I am Tata, and I don’t even think I remember my real name anymore.”
Martino is Inter Miami’s third coach in four years. He replaces Phil Neville, who was fired June 1 after two and a half seasons. The club’s first coach Diego Alonso was let go after the inaugural season.
Chris Henderson, the team’s sporting director, said Martino was “the target we wanted” when management decided to make a coaching change at the midseason with the team stuck in last place in the Eastern Conference.
“We’re so happy to be able to get it over the line working with [co-owners] David Beckham, Jorge and Jose Mas, we’re able to bring in a winner, someone with experience who can come in and be able to take a group and climb the table,” Henderson said. “The goal is to make the playoffs this year. We’re in the semifinals of US Open Cup and we have Leagues Cup coming up. So, there’s a lot to play for.”
Martino and the five assistants he brought are awaiting work visas. Henderson hopes the paperwork will be completed sometime next week. Miami has home games Saturday against Austin and Tuesday against Columbus. Interim coach Javi Morales is at the helm until Martino is cleared to coach and will remain on the staff after.
Asked what his goals are for the remainder of the 2023 season, Martino said: “One is to see if we can make the playoffs. Right now that seems like a stretch, but as long as we have the possibility we can’t stop trying. We are in a good place in the Open Cup, and now there’s a new tournament, Nations Cup, that we will aim for. After that, the goal is to build for 2024.”
Martino met the players and told them he and his staff are coming “to be part of the solution” to the team’s problems but stressed that it will take time for injured players to heal, for players missing for Gold Cup to get back, and for incoming players such as Messi and Sergio Busquets to adapt and integrate into the group.
One thing the coach promised is that Messi and Busquets are coming to South Florida to work, not to take it easy.
“I spoke to Leo, yesterday I spoke to Sergio, we spoke about coming to have success, to compete,” Martino said. “Sometimes in our world you associate United States and Miami with holidays. And it’s not that. They are coming to compete. They are coming from winning world titles, Spanish league titles. They are not going to relax. They will compete because it is in their blood.”
As for his motivation, Martino said he has been fascinated with MLS since his two-year stint with Atlanta United, during which he led the team to the 2018 MLS Cup title.
“I see a league that is always evolving, a league that has a lot of rules, but they are very clear,” he said. “It is very level for all the teams, the system of budgets and draft allows all teams at the start to have the same aspirations. I like the complexity of the cold of one place, rain of another, heat of another. All that makes you as a coach have to think about more than just managing what happens on the field.”
He said fans can expect a similar high-pressing style to what he played with Atlanta but adapted to the Miami roster. A few more roster changes are expected, Henderson said.
“Come late August we’re going to have a different look,” Henderson said. “This will give the opportunity for Tata and his staff to work with the players in a new way. It feels like a new beginning for the club. And we’re going to do everything we can to rise up the table game by game.”
One player whose future is in doubt is Mexican midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro, the team’s first designated player, who makes $3.5 million and is in the last year of his contract. He has battled injuries this season and played sparingly.
Martino coached Pizarro with the Mexican national team. “We know Rodo’s situation. There’s the football part, then there’s the business side and we will see what his future is. It will not be decided based on his football.”
Meanwhile, the team continued training Thursday under Morales in preparation for Saturday’s game. Morales, a native of Argentina with many years of MLS experience, will stay on Martino’s staff, as will Argentine goalkeeper coach Sebastian Saja.
They will join the coaches Martino is bringing: longtime right-hand man Jorge Theiler, fitness coaches Rodolfo Paladini and Jose Manuel Alfaro, video analyst Damian Silvero, and assistant Gerardo Martino, the coach’s 27-year-old son, who, by the way, is not nicknamed “Tata.”
