Inter Miami coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino said on Wednesday that his side still need to step it up a notch to reach their best level, hours before boarding the plane for Saudi Arabia, where his club will continue their international pre-season tour.
“We arrived in June last year in a situation where the team was in a rather uncomfortable part of the table. We had the chance to win a first tournament straight away, but we never gave up the idea of working on the team. We still need to accelerate a bit more to really be competitive,” Martino acknowledged at the Inter Miami sports centre.
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The US club, led by Leo Messi and Luis Suarez, drew 0-0 with El Salvador and lost 1-0 at FC Dallas and will now travel to Saudi Arabia to face Al Hilal and Al Nassr before taking on a team of Hong Kong players and Japan’s Kobe.
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“It’s always better to win if you can, but it’s not the priority. It’s about coming out of a demanding season a little at a time. We are looking for a tune-up. There are other objectives that go beyond the result,” said Martino.
The coach acknowledged that “if there is a concern it is not scoring goals”, although he stressed that the main thing he is looking for is to have “team solidity”.
He described as “valuable” the possibility that Inter Miami is offering fans to see Messi up close thanks to this pre-season.
However, he considered that the international tour entails organising an unusual pre-season.
“There are not too many problems,” he said, except for the cruciate injury suffered by Argentine striker Facundo Farias, who will miss the whole season.
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