Touchline Talk presented by Al-Flex
Inter Miami’s 2022 MLS season came to a close with the Round One Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs loss against New York City in a tough matchup. Not only did the team’s season end, as legendary striker Gonzalo Higuaín officially hung up his boots after an illustrious career that spanned 17-and-a-half years and that saw him represent some of the biggest club teams in the world, and the Argentina national team on the international arena.
“[After the game] I felt that the thing that I loved the most as a job during half of my life came to an end. It was 17 and a half years of my career, many images come to mind of everything you lived, everything that you fought for, how much I world, and I leave very proud knowing that I gave everything up until today. That’s the most important thing in life in anything that you do, leaving it all. When you know that you give everything, you can leave with a clean conscience, and I feel that way. Now I'm going to enjoy what is coming next with my partner, my daughter, my family, my friends, and I’m looking forward to that and being proud of what I was able to achieve.”
Higuaín bowed out in spectacular fashion, registering 14 goals and two assists in the last 16 regular season matches (from July 13 to Oct. 9) to guide Inter Miami to its Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs berth and finishing as the team’s top scorer in 2022 with a total 16 goals, while also registering three assists on the season. In all, the striker made 68 MLS appearances for Inter Miami over two-and-a-half seasons after joining the team in the summer of 2020, tallying a Club-record 29 goals and 14 assists in that span.
The iconic forward then shared his appreciation for the final chapter in his career with Inter Miami and the people who he crossed paths with in his time in South Florida.
"I'm leaving very proud of everything that we have achieved and of my teammates, the coaches, our fans. I wish them the best for next year… From the bottom of my heart I want to wish them the best because I’ve met some wonderful people at the club,” expressed Higuaín. “My time here was some of the years of my career that I enjoyed the most and it gave me back the love for the ball that I had lost… I was very happy at this club and am very grateful to everyone at Inter Miami.”
To close out, Higuaín had words of praise for MLS and for the work that has been carried out to grow the beautiful game in North America throughout the past years.
“I wasn’t able to play many years in this league as I did in Europe but in the few years I played in the MLS and in this club, I think they are doing great work… It’s a league that is growing a lot and in the past years not only have important players come here, but players have been sold to important European teams and that is great news for this league. I think that what is being done is very important and I hope they want to continue to grow because I believe this league has a lot of potential.”
