After a few voluntary individual training sessions at Inter Miami CF Training Complex, head coach Diego Alonso feels good about where the team is at. While the team returned to the facility under strict guidelines last week, the players have maintained their fitness levels, pleasing their head coach.
“The current condition of the team is strong despite having been absent from working together for [eight] weeks,” said Alonso. “The condition they have reached has been really good, in normal circumstances the minimum [time to prepare the team for the start of the season] is four to six weeks, but we understand that this is not a normal situation and that we will have to adapt and have to work to prepare the team in two or three weeks.”
“The team's mentality is strong. We all work together to be better and each passing day we know it's one day closer to playing. So that way we keep the players focused, growing and ready so that when they tell us we're ready to play we’ll be able to do it.”
The safety measures taken by both MLS and Inter Miami have allowed the team to take its first step towards a return to action. As a result, Alonso is also looking forward to the possibilities of a return to competitive play.
“I think the league is working hard to be able to play the maximum number of matches and also keep the players safe with all the protocols they are implementing, and surely in the near future they will decide what the best option is,” he said.
“We feel very safe so far,” he added. “Both the league and the Club have supported us a lot, the protocols are very good and strict and help us to keep everyone safe, and surely the day we play will be the same. We have to go step by step to keep growing, we as a club are already prepared for the next step with tests that will surely happen when we return to play, so we are very secure with the protocols that have been given to us by the league and the Club.”
Though the voluntary individual sessions have their limitations, Alonso feels the team is still able to accomplish some goals on the physical and technical sides of the game.
“At the moment, with individual training without interaction, it’s very difficult to work on the tactical aspect; we’re working on the physical and technical aspects. It is very difficult at the moment without interacting with the players, without being able to pass a ball, without being able to execute an action that has to do with tactical behavior, so we limit it to physical and technical work.”
