Opposition Research: Miami Herald's Michelle Kaufman on Inter Miami-ATLUTD

0:00The new Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer is now at McDonald's, made with freeze-dried dragonfruit and made to lock in. The all-new Energizer now at McDonald's. Stop wasting your nights on a mattress that doesn't get you. Experience the most comfortable mattress in the world. The sleep number smart bed at the touch of a button. You can personalize your comfort. Choose firmer or softer. Adjust cooler to warmer. And right now, save up to $2,500 during our massive Labor Day event. Hurry into your local sleep number store today, because we have your number. You, but hanging out down there with all these kinds of things. First and foremost, thanks for dropping by on the Thursday, especially getting ready for a match day. How was your transfer deadline day? Well, it's still ongoing because they haven't announced yet.

1:01There's there's deals that I know have happened that are completed. Uh-huh. That they have not announced yet. But I know that they've happened because I've spoken to people on the inside and they're done. Noah Allen went to Chicago Fire. That's a done deal that has not been announced yet. Uh-uh, a $3 million transfer. You know, a lot of the money is going to be paid in 27 rather than 26. It's all that convoluted arcane MLS rules that nobody could possibly understand. We're not going to discuss it because the people listening to this show will fall asleep. No, no, they won't. Okay. And then, um, yeah. And then there's another signing that's coming that also is a done deal that has not been announced, which is a guy that was going to be lying to Atlanta earlier in the year, which is a Paraguayan world cup player Mattias Galarsa, who's coming on loan from River Plate. And I don't know. I looked up.

2:01I read about him and I don't see that he's done a whole lot with River Plate or with Atlanta. So I'm not sure what the excitement would be there. But anyway, I guess time will tell I think he had a good world cup. But I think he didn't do too much in Atlanta for what I could see. And he has not done too much in Riverplay. But I guess he's maybe gonna get, you know, gonna get, look for a new start here with Messi. Everybody wants to play with Messi. So he's the latest in line. Galarza Intel is that he had one assistant 13 appearances all comps with Atlanta United. They had him on the left hand side of the attack in the midfield. And it took a little while for Mattias Galarza to integrate. They wanted to pair him with Miguel Almarón on the left hand side because of the relationship with Paraguay. And it took a little while for that engine to turn. You could see the promise that was there, but the lone parameters that were attached with Galarza,

3:05the sign, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the inking of it to make it permanent. I don't think it would have fit in Atlanta's cap structure at the time. And it was a pretty expensive signing if it was gonna be turned into a permanent. And that's why he was returned to Riverplay. Right, right. Okay. Well, I mean, I trust Tata and I trust Chris Henderson. And I trust Tata. And so if they thought he was good enough to bring in there, I'm sure he's, he's got promise. So he's coming. They haven't announced it yet, but, but that's a done deal from what I hear. So yeah. And then there's Raquel May Philippi. Yes. A 19 year old. Yeah, another one, you know, 19 year old kid from Brazil, place for palm made us. He's a winger. I'm assuming he's a fast winger. He's 19 years old. So he's gonna have younger legs than a lot of the people on this team who are in their mid to late 30s pushing 40. So, you know, they could use some youth and some speed

4:09on the wings. So, yes. So the, the signings that are coming in are Galarsa and Philippe and Raquel May Philippi. Mm-hmm. And then the ones going out were Noah Allen to Chicago, David Ruiz to New York Red Bull. How do you keep all of this straight with this roster, with the ins and the outs and the financials and everything? It seems like it is a masterful challenge every single season. Yeah. Well, I don't, I mean, I don't even try to understand the financials. The financials, it's, you know, I think they're just doing financial gymnastics. You know what I mean? They find a way the rules are so, like I said before, are can I mean all the 10 and Gam and, you know, they can have this much money for this year, but then they can only have $3 million that they can add in Gam. So they have to, you know, if they get a signing like, well, from what I understand Noah Allen is a $3 million

5:10Gam deal, but it has to start as alone because they don't, they can't have the money until 27. They don't want the money in 26, because that puts them over the limit for 26. So they loan him until December, and then in January it becomes a permanent, and then they, then, then they get that $3 million for their 27 additional Gam that gets added to the $3.26 million Gam that the league is anyone awake still? Oh, absolutely. No, I mean, it's okay. No, I mean, I just think it's, I don't even try to explain it too much in my stories because it would take way too many paragraphs to explain all of these deals. It's just, you know, and then the DPs and then the under 22 initiatives and then the homegrowns and every, it seems like every person on the roster has a unique separate category, you know,

6:11and then there's Messi who understands that financial. That's just, that's a cash cow that cannot be explained. So yeah, I don't even try to get too much into the financials. It's just too complicated. Well, but I think that it's what we're seeing is that the front office is by challenging the current rule structure, the laws of the, you know, gam and tam and Garber bucks and all those kinds of things. I give the front office a lot of credit for that gymnastics where they can, you know, sit there and it's like, okay, well, if we do this here and this here and this here, I think you get to challenge the rest of the league to try to sit there and say, okay, well, if you want to do this and follow us down this road to where Major League Soccer can, you know, bring in players of what we're doing, here's kind of the way to do it. So I give the front office even though there is a lot of mathematical gymnastics, I give him a lot of credit for going down this road to figure it out to where everybody can fit in quotation. Yeah, yeah, I mean, they're very ambitious for him.

7:12I, you know, he would love nothing more than to just open things up, you know, and, and I'm a less, there really are two camps of owners, you know, there are, there's, there are the ownership groups that want to just open it up and let's out bid each other and let's go at it the way they do in other sports. And then there are the ones that are clinging to that single entity parody, you know, 1998 MLS model where everybody is the same and we're all going to make money and share it and nobody's going to be great. There's not going to be any super team. There's not going to be any terrible team. Everybody's going to be kind of mediocre. You know, and, and, and Jose Moss, David Beckham, that group, they definitely are in the, let's just do it. I mean, we're owners. We want to make money. We want our team to win and they, they are willing to spend money. I mean, they are privately funding that $300 million

8:13stadium that just opened. That is a privately funded stadium, $300 million. And, you know, they brought in Lionel Messi, which was miraculous. I never thought that could happen. Even though, I must kept saying to me, Michelle, I'm doing this. I'm telling you, you watch. He kept saying epic, epic. It's going to be epic. Just wait. Just mark my words. And the day he signed, he called me and he said, what did I tell you? I told you I was going to do it. And his line that he said to me that day, I was in Paris on vacation, by the way. On June 7, 2023, I remember the date that Lionel Messi announced that he's coming because I knew that it was, I knew that it might happen. I still didn't think it would. But I knew it was kind of going to happen. And things always happen when I'm on vacation. In fact, the other beatwriters have all marked down my vacations on their calendars because they know that there's going to be big MLS news

9:14when Michelle is on vacation. So, so the first thing that happened was I was on an airplane to Paris with my husband on June 1st of that year. And they fired Phil Neville, the coach, while I was on the plane. So I said, okay, this is not good. I wrote this story. I got that I was on the airplane Wi-Fi, always a big mistake, but I always do it. I was on the plane Wi-Fi and I wrote my story about Phil Neville being fired while I was on the plane to Paris. And then I just prayed and I said, please, Lionel Messi, if you want to come here, fine, but don't do it over the next 10 days because I'm on vacation in France. Please don't do it over the next 10 days. So the first six days went fine, I was fine. And then on the seventh day, I was literally, I'm not even kidding, I'm not joking. Under the Eiffel Tower, we had just gone to Musei to the museum, we were taking pictures under the Eiffel Tower. And I got a phone call and it was from where he was. And he said, Michelle, where are you right now?

10:16You near a computer. And I said, no, I'm in Paris, I'm on vacation. And he said, you need to be near a computer because remember what I told you is going to happen. It's going to happen today. And I said, oh my God. So anyway, ever since that day, things have been really crazy with this team. But this is all along anecdote to tell you that Jorge Muse is an extremely ambitious person. And what he said to me that day, under the Eiffel Tower, on my cell phone was never get between a Cuban and his dream. So his dream was to bring Messi here. He befriended Jorge Musei, Leo's dad, who just passed away. He really became buddy buddy with him over a three-year span and was able to persuade that family to come to Miami. And this club has never been the same since, but he's not satisfied. He wants to keep bringing in names and keep making money.

11:18They have to make money because they have to pay for that $300 million stadium. So yeah, they're going to do whatever they can. And I know a lot of people around the league think that, and they did that first year, there were some rule breakings that went on with the previous, with the previous previous, before Chris Henderson got here. But I don't think that they're breaking rules. I really think that they are just working within the rules in a very creative way, shall we say? Yeah, absolutely. And I personally, sidebar, pause, I can't wait for the encore, because Leonel Messi, we know he's not going to it well, but never tell Leo that he can't do anything. But there will be a day when he gets to be 72 or 73 years old, when he can't play Major League Soccer anymore. What do you do for an encore? And I think that that's the pressure that's attached to the Moss brothers in David Beckham, once we get to that day of Leonel Messi wanting to hang it up across the board domestically and what have you.

12:20I'm intrigued as to what the encore will be for Inter Miami. Right now, maybe, and I say this somewhat tongue in cheek, why'd you build the new barn? You're 4, 2 and 4 at home, where your gangbusters on the road and your average at home. What's going on at home this year? Oh, with the, with the, oh, with the, with their record. Yeah. Stop wasting your nights on a mattress that doesn't get you. Experience the most comfortable mattress in the world. The sleep number smart bed at the touch of a button. You can personalize your comfort. Choose firmer or softer, adjust cooler to warmer. And right now, save up to $2,500 during our massive Labor Day event. Hurry into your local sleep number store today, because we have your number. When you're in charge of your company's corporate card program, you probably want support from someone who gets it. That's where the American Express corporate program is different.

13:21You get support from real people, experts who understand your setup and can help you when you need it. So you're not managing your corporate card program alone. Connect with the member of our team. Live at 1-855-531-3491. Well, they... At the beginning, I mean, I really think the team was not that bad at the beginning. They were getting ties. They were not winning. This last stretch, they had a five game winless streak before they made the coaching change. They needed to make this coaching change. Guillermo Oios, he was a caretaker coach. He's Messi's Godfather. Basically, he's a very close friend of the, of the Messi family. He's known Messi since he was 14. He was in the front office. Javier Mascherano walked out with his staff, which for personal reasons. So did Tata Martino. Two coaches in a row.

14:22Tata Martino having won the supporter's shield with this club, with Messi missing for two and a half months. They still won the supporter's shield, broke the record for most points in league history. They got beat by Atlanta. In the first round of those playoffs, it was not my opinion. It was not Tata's fault. Atlanta played that series great. Brad Guzán played out of his mind and was stopping everything that Lionel Messi was throwing at him. And they lost in the first round. And for personal reasons, Tata leaves. Never explained why. Just said he's leaving for personal reasons and a year later is back in coaching. Next up, Javier Mascherano. Another Argentine coach who had the goal, the seal of approval, shall we say from Messi? Because they're not going to bring in a coach who he isn't going to prove up. They bring in his Barcelona teammate,

15:23his former Argentine and national team teammate. He had very little to no experience. He had no professional experience. He would only coach Argentina youth teams, no experience. They win the cup in his first year with Javier Mascherano. They win the MLS Cup in his first year having no experience prior. Seven games into his second season. He walks out with his whole staff and says, I'm done for personal reasons. You can all read between the lines. This is a difficult job. This is a difficult job. So what do they do? For the intern, they just put Guillermo Oioz in there. He's a company man. He's a messy guy. They bring him in. I guess maybe he wanted a shot or they wanted to give him a shot. The team did well at the beginning. But then it started showing that he really, he was not,

16:24he was not a good fit for this job. It's a high pressure job. I don't really think he knew what he was doing as far as tactics, substitutions, definitely not that great of a communicator or motivator. I'm not saying he's not a good guy and he's a company guy. He is true and true loyal to this club to the point that they've hired a new coach. Last Thursday, they hired a new coach, Keeley Gonzalez, another Argentinian from Messi's hometown of Rosario. They had Tata and then they had Masherano and then they have Oioz and now they're going to have Keeley Gonzalez, another Argentinian from Messi's hometown. He doesn't have his visa yet. He doesn't have his work papers. Guillermo Oioz has chosen to stay on and continue being the caretaker until the new coach comes. So what happened during that stretch and what happened at home is I just think the team

17:25really fell into a funk. The team fell into a funk and Guillermo Oioz couldn't get them out of it and so they decided they're going to go a different direction for the last 13 games of this season and they hire Keeley Gonzalez. We're still waiting for him to come. I don't think he's going to be here for the Saturday game against Atlanta. They're saying maybe next week but I don't think he's going to be here. I think Guillermo Oioz is going to be back on the sideline against Atlanta. Traditionally, you know, with Inter Miami, you can get into those five four games because they've been exposed at the back a great deal, especially with if you have speed that you can either work down the sides or get in behind, you know, look, I'll say this, Maxi Falcone, he's got a great head of lettuce but there are times when he gets absolutely burned at the back. And it seems like there are times where Messi wants to put this team on his shoulders and he's just going to just like, look, I'll do this myself while I'll score people and

18:27you have what you had against the team like Montreal where you put seven on the board. But then you could give up four or five the other way, whether it's Daines St. Clair or Roccaria Snowbow and that, it just seems like if you can find ways to have speed go against that back line, you could turn it into a shootout and it could be a long day for Inter Miami on a daily basis. Oh, definitely and also defensively. Well, there are a couple of things that happen offensively. First of all, when you play Messi and Suarez together, they are lethal, you know, as far as attackers. They have telepathy. They can still finish and do things that nobody else can do. I mean, they're both, they, you know, they have over a thousand goals between them career, you know, they're, they're, they're an unbelievable pairing. However, what you get up front, you lose defensively. Neither one of them is going to be racing back on defense and they also up front, they can't get, they're not, you know, the, it has to be a possession game with short passes to them.

19:28They're not going to be running and get behind a defender. They're not going to be sprinting to get behind a defender. So other teams have figured out even, you know, Montreal, a team that was struggling, not Montreal, Toronto, other teams have figured out ways, not Montreal. Montreal did not figure it out. Other teams have figured out Philadelphia. Other teams have figured out how to, how to, you know, keep the ball from Messi as much as they can, clog the middle and then use speed. Yes, because Miami A, you're basically playing eight field players defensively. So they've changed the goalkeeper back and forth, but they were still having very similar problems, which is in transition, they get burned a lot in transition. Now on top of that, you've got no, the back line has already been a suspect for a long time. Now, let's discuss what they have right now. Noah Allen is gone.

20:28Reggie Lone, who's supposed to be the starter at left back, he's injured. He was not at training yesterday. He's injured. Gonzalo Lujan, center back. He's injured with a calf injury. He was training off to the side yesterday. Mikael, the Brazilian center back that they brought from Fonmetas, who was doing pretty well. He was one of the better defenders of the beginning of the season. He's also injured with an ankle injury. He was training to the side with Lujan. So right now in the back, what they did last game is they put Casamero. They moved Casamero back and played three in back. They played Ian Frey, Casamero and Maxi Falcone. Oh no, they had Noah Allen. They had foreign back, but they had Casamero in the back. So they may do that again. Maybe they moved Casamero because they have more midfielders. Move him back. But in other words, their back line has been sort of a revolving door and they've had

21:32a lot of injuries. On top of that, there's the issue of no speed. On top of that is the issue of Messi and Suarez when they're on the field together. There's a defensive liability there. So that is the Achilles heel if this team has one is defensively offensively. Yeah. They beat Philadelphia 6 to 4 in the last game before the World Cup break. There were 10 goals in that game. So if you give up four goals, you should not win that game. But when they can score six and they can score seven, then they can win those games. So it turns into a shootout and they win the shootout when they have Messi and Suarez in there. So it's an interesting team, but they do have to clean up their defense. Otherwise, I don't see, you know, I'll say this about how your Masherano, how did they win the Cup last year? They were having the same issues last summer. He benched Suarez. And that was the most difficult thing that he had to do because Suarez is Messi's best friend.

22:35And Suarez was also a former teammate of Masherano on Barcelona. This was a very difficult decision that Masherano had to do, but he decided to bench Suarez. And he put Silvete and he put Silvete and Iyenda flanking Messi. Two guys who could run fast, get behind the defense and play with Messi. Once they did that, they broke the MLS record for goals during the playoffs. They broke the MLS record and just rolled through the playoffs, rolled through the playoffs, screaming everybody to lift the cup. Now the dilemma was, you know, seven games into the season here. The thought was that Suarez was going to retire. Okay, everyone assumed that Suarez was going to retire and I'm sure have your Masherano also assumed that. But guess what? Suarez decided he won a swung song. He wanted one more season and then have your Masherano is left with the same issue that

23:38he had at the end of last season, which is, okay, Suarez is coming back for a last era. This is Messi's friend. He's coming for a last era. I guess I have to play him. Then they bring in Bertorame, who was not exactly what have your Masherano wanted to spend money on in the off season. He wanted defensive help. That's where he wanted the money spent. They spent the money on a forward who was doing very well in Mexico, but that's not really what they needed most. Anyway, I think having your Masherano was very frustrated and walked out seven games into the season. So does Kiela Gonzalez know what he's getting into and is just going to sit there and go, yeah, it's a chance for me to coach in Miami with Messi and all of the Spire Power. He knows that he's got to wear a hard hat to work every day. Well, if he has a brain, if he has a brain, he has to know this because this team

24:39is on its six coach in seven years. This club is only seven years old and they've had six coaches. And you know, if Tata left after winning a supporter shield with them, best record of all time and he leaves. And then and then Masherano, seven games after lifting the cup with this team and with the team that was presumably going to be better this year with whatever they thought is going to be better with who they brought. You know, and he walked out seven games in and then the oil starts out okay, but turns out not okay. And then he's gone. So this is this is a very difficult job. And I've spoken to coaches around the league that I've known for a long time. There's other MLS coaches and they say this is a hard job. It's not just throw messy and his friends out there and just let them play because that's

25:43kind of what Oios was doing to be honest and that doesn't work. There are other coaches and MLS that are smart and good and they figure out they figure out how to beat into Miami. You know what I mean? So you can't just yes, Messi is unreal. He scored four goals the other day at 39 years old. He scored eight goals during the World Cup and carried Argentina on his back to the final. He is he is the best of all time in my mind. There's no question what he does is is insane. Absolutely insane, but you can't just throw him out there with a bunch of guys around him and figure that you're going to beat every MLS team and you're going to lift the cup. There has to be some strategy. There has to be some speed. There has to be some defense and you know that's what Kool-Aid Gonzalez is going to have to figure out. And I guess every coach that comes here thinks that they can do it and somehow they're on their sixth coach in the last seven years.

26:44Crazy. And then when you put it like that, six head coaches in seven years, it's like yeah, when you think about it and take a beat, you're like, yep, that is in fact what's going on. I know that it seems simplistic to where okay, how do you defend against Inter Miami? Cut off the supply lines to Messi and your physical with him and you bump him off his game. But all that seems to do is step on Superman's cape and get him mad at times. What kind of a matchup are you expecting this weekend down there at New Stadium with Atlanta United? Well, I mean, from what I see, I think Atlanta does have speed. And by the way, Fafa, Fafa Peacol, believe me, he will be motivated with a capital M because he was not, you know, he's a Miami guy and he was not really given that much opportunity to play with this group. He is going to be highly motivated in this game in his hometown. I think he has scored the game winning goal in two of the last three games for Atlanta if I'm correct. So he's going to be motivated at Atlanta has speed.

27:47Miami is not the speediest team as we've just been talking about. I believe the Tatumartino is an excellent coach. I mean, having watched him for a whole year and even when Messi was out for two and a half months, he put in a bunch of young guys and brought up guys from the academy and they stayed on top in first place the entire season of 2024. And I know that, you know, he's done really well in the past with Atlanta. I know he's trying to rebuild it now. So I have faith that Tatumartino knows, he knows this team extremely well and he knows what to do. So there will be a game plan for sure. There will be a good game plan against a team that I believe is going to have Guillermo Ouyos on the sideline. I don't know how much influence Keeley Gonzalez will have from the telephone or whatever from Margin Tina where he still is. He hasn't even met with the team as far as I know. We spoke to Yannick Bright yesterday and I said, oh, have you guys had any interactions

28:52with him? Has he done a Zoom calls with you guys or anything? No, he said, I have not spoken to him yet. So they've had this coach for a week, but at least Yannick Bright, he has not spoken to. I'm assuming maybe he has spoken to Lionel Messi, but he has not spoken to Yannick Bright yet as of yesterday. So again, you're going to have an Atlanta team with a plan from a coach who knows the club extremely well. They have speed. They're going to be motivated. And then you've got a Miami team. Now, I will say Miami did get a big boost of energy with that 7-1 win. They were really in a funk. They were down. The energy was bad. There was like a lack of urgency. They did not look good in the previous few games. And now they came off the field, feeling energized. Also the fact that there's a new coach, even though they haven't met him yet, the idea that the club has decided to invest in the remainder of this season, that they're not

29:53just throwing up their hands and giving up. I think that gave the team also a boost of energy. So I think it's going to be a really interesting game. I don't think it's going to be as simple as Miami's in second place and Atlanta is lower in the table. I think that this could be a tricky game for them. And by the way, Miami has dropped. They're still in second place, but they're 10 points behind Nashville. They were two points behind two weeks ago or so. And they dropped eight points over the span of a week. So they're now 10 points behind in second place as far as trying to get the supporters shield this year. It's going to be very difficult. Nashville is just winning everything. Miami's winning, but Nashville is winning, and Nashville is already 10 points ahead of them. So Miami's motivated. I think Atlanta will be motivated, and I think Atlanta will be prepared. I don't have any question that Atlanta is going to be prepared for this game. And that is why we bring you up as soon as we know that something like this is going

30:53to go down so we can get your your intel and the PhD on Inter Miami opposition research with you, Michelle Coffman. It's always fantastic to catch up with you on everything that goes on down there. Hit the promo, working folks. Watch you on socials and Miami Harolden to subscribe and all that stuff. Yeah, we'd love for you to subscribe. You know, local media were the ones who cover the teams on a day to day basis. There's a writer in Atlanta who's covering the team. There's me, you know, there are a lot of cities don't even have MLS beat writers, but you're lucky to have one and we're lucky to have it here. So MiamiHerald.com is where you can find my work on Twitter. I'm at Coff Sports, K-A-U-F Sports. So I have a weekly podcast called Inside Inter Miami. Inside Inter Miami, you can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, any other pod catchers that you have. So I'm all over the place. So that's where you can find me. If you want to know about Messi, what's going on with Messi, what's going on with Inter Miami? And we love to do that. Just have may all the bylines be kind and may you each and everyone and we will catch

31:58up with you soon, my friends. Great to see you. Thanks for the intel.