The boss has arrived. Inter Miami formally introduced Head Coach Diego Alonso in a press conference at the Rusty Pelican in Key Biscayne, FL this week. The two-time Concacaf Champions League-winning coach greeted the media and shared his motivations ahead of the Major League Soccer (MLS) season, expressing a desire to hit the ground running after starting preseason training this past Monday.
“Honestly, I'm proud and honored to belong to this Club. For the values, for the ambition and for the dreams the Club has. As I always say, 'great dreamers don’t just fulfill dreams, we surpass them', so we're looking to achieve that.”
Alonso also opened up on the philosophy he aims to instill in his players.
“I understand fútbol as a game in which you have to create chances all the time in order to win. I don't think of it as a game of giving an answer, I understand it as a proposal, always propose to do more,” said Alonso. “We need to be a team that both attacks and a team that defends to be much better.”
“I think coaches have to express what we feel and teams have to try to express what the coach feels. I don't think imitations are good. When I want to imitate someone, it doesn't work out,” he added. “It has to be natural.”
On the influence of his Uruguayan background on his style he said, “I think it has more to do with the spirit, with the leadership, with the desire to win. We have been raised from a very young age to believe that there is nothing impossible in my country. We live next to two giants in Argentina and Brazil and I was taught from childhood that we can beat them all the same.”
“Since childhood, even if we are less, when we compete, we are more.”
Alonso, who was officially hired on December 30, 2019, joined the Club for the first week of training camp after securing his work permission in the U.S. The Club’s ownership group worked closely with Sporting Director Paul McDonough to select Alonso as the team’s first-ever Head Coach, sharing with him their ambitions.
“When I met [Jorge Mas], it became much clearer to me what the culture is about. It's a project with ambition, with values, with hard-working people, and with a lot of desire to dream big, just like me. So, without a doubt, we share the same dreams and the same goals.”
“We have worked - especially Paul, Jorge, all the directors of the Club – worked very hard to build a great team, to acquire very good players. We are convinced that we will have a great team.”
On the subject of David Beckham’s influence to him he said, “It was very important and I did have a conversation with him. I have a good memory of having faced him as a player and a pleasant impression of having been able to communicate with him recently.”
Alonso was also asked about the potential impact of particular players or signings.
“All the players we have are impactful. To me, all players are important,” he said.
Using his family as an example, he said, “There are those better than my children, sure, but no one loves them more than me. And the players are the same for me.”
Lastly, he touched on the importance of the support of the Inter Miami fanbase.
“First, I'm happy to have the fans we have. Already the affection of people is amazing through social media, around the streets, the truth is that it has been wonderful,” said Alonso. “We certainly want to play locally to also feel the support of our people. We are, I repeat, very anxious.”
