Inter Miami suffered a defeat at the hands of reigning Eastern Conference champions NYCFC today, eliminating the team from the MLS is Back Tournament. Despite the defeat, team captain Luis Robles, defender Nicolás Figal and manager Diego Alonso were not discouraged.
“As a leader, it’s really important that you don’t become discouraged. Disappointments happen in life, but discouragement is a mindset,” said Robles. “As the leader of this team I’m not going to allow it to choose that mindset.”
“We have things to improve. We're self-critical and we have to do more,” said Alonso. “Now we have a number of weeks of work and expect to then start the regular season. We will adjust with the players who are here and any player who may arrive.”
“Obviously we have this feeling of frustration, but nobody's gonna convince me we're a bad team. If you look at the games, they've all been decided by small margins, we've never been beaten badly. But we always lacked something. I hope that when the season resumes, we will be able to provide that final detail that we might have been missing this tournament,” added Figal.
Though the team was unable to win the match, there were positive signs as Inter Miami once again outshot their opponents, expanding on a theme of the young season. The balanced match played to an unfortunate result for the team, but belief in the team remains strong.
“In these five games, fútbol has been unfair,” said Alonso. “We have less than we deserve, but we didn’t play so well today. We have to continue to insist and work. I'm with my players now more than ever.”
“We know that we’re in a difficult place right now, but the only things that we can do is stick together and commit to the process, continue to believe in one another, work hard, demand more from each other and focus on the process and don’t get too fixated on the results,” added Robles. “If we can do these things, then we’ll turn this around.”
“I think it's time for each of us to look inside and see what we can bring to the group. We don't have to look outward because these moments are the ones we need to be most closely united. Every one of the guys that represents this Club has the ability to pull this off,” said Figal.
Alonso’s final message was clear: the team knows what it must do to right the ship.
“You have to know how to react. When the road is tough, only the tough ones walk. We have a clear direction and obligation.”
