Tata Martino OUT As Manager Of Inter Miami CF
In absolute earth shattering news around Major League Soccer, Tata Martino is out as Manager of Inter Miami CF! The 62 year old Argentine is officially done as manager down in Miami after 67 games and about 18 months in charge. Well what happened? Tom Bogert is reporting that it was Martino’s decision to leave Inter Miami due to “personal reasons”.
Typically after a successful season, you don’t typically see Managers leaving their jobs… but this Inter Miami club is anything but typical. With Inter Miami, Tata Martino came in and won the 2023 Leagues Cup, in that process beating Liga MX side Cruz Azul. Then this season, Martino and Inter Miami won the Supporters’ Shield while also breaking the MLS single season points record at 74 points. After a historic loss to Atlanta United in the 1st round of the MLS Cup Playoffs, Miami’s season ended and apparently so has Martino’s time as Manager.
So where does Inter Miami go from here? Well Tata isn’t going to be the only large name around this club departing this off-season. Miami has to remake this club around Lionel Messi on and off of the field. Most likely we will see Sporting Director Chris Henderson move on as well, which from an understanding MLS roster construction standpoint… is a huge loss. On the field there are also going to be the questions surrounding who joins Lionel Messi for what could be a final season for him in his career. Inter Miami have the replacement for Chris Henderson in house and I am not concerned about them working the roster to get more of Messi’s friends on the team.
However, I am concerned about the head coaching position for this club in 2025. This is not an easy job, even though it may seem like it from the outside. Managing personalities, egos, and requests of global superstars, young talents, and just the average player all while managing the expectations of what this team is in MLS is not easy. Now, (most likely) a new manager to this league will have to come in and handle learning a whole new league, club, and project. Oh yeah… Inter Miami also play in the expanded FIFA Club World Cup next season as well. There are not many names out there that I think are respected enough by Lionel Messi, David Beckham, and company to handle this. The most obvious name out there is Xavi who most recently managed FC Barcelona and was a former teammate of Messi. Others are connecting a former MLS manager in Thierry Henry to this job. Honestly, I don’t know if there is a free agent manager out there other than Xavi that I feel like is appropriate for this club. At the end of all of these thoughts, this is a shocking blow to Inter Miami. Tata was the anchor surrounding this club and without him, this team is going to have to pull even bigger moments in 2025 to add to the trophy cabinet.
