even mingling with some<\/a> in the most ardent supporters\u2019 section behind one of the goals. It was an event, with pink glow sticks being waved in the stands and music icon Marc Anthony performing \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d<\/p>\nLet the record show that Messi didn\u2019t score the first goal in the stadium; that distinction went to Austin defender Guilherme Biro. Messi got the first Inter Miami goal, a header four minutes after Biro\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were times of trouble, you know, but David, he\u2019s an optimist,\u201d Garber said. \u201cI think he was an optimist as a player. Again, he\u2019s got a lot of courage. You\u2019ve seen that throughout his career. He has that same courage as a businessperson.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beckham is a global icon when it comes to soccer, entertainment and fashion \u2014 and in many ways, MLS changed forever when he came to the U.S. to play for the LA Galaxy. It was through that deal that he got the option for an expansion franchise, which ultimately meant Miami.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came to America and the MLS 20 years ago, my dream was to win championships, help raise the game of soccer that I love so much and to build my own team,\u201d Beckham said. \u201cThirteen years ago, I announced Miami was my choice. We had no name. We had no fans. We had no stadium. Today, I stand in our new home. We are champions of the MLS. We have the best player in the history of the game playing in Miami. Dreams really can come true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beckham\u2019s celebrity level got things started. Messi put the team onto a global stage. And others now will try to replicate it \u2014 including Austin, which has actor and producer Matthew McConaughey as part of its ownership group.<\/p>\n
McConaughey wrote an open letter of sorts to Beckham on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Austin visits Miami today for a little shindig on your new pitch, I want to first shout out a sincere \u201cthank you\u201d \u2014 you didn\u2019t create soccer over here in the US, but you damn sure supercharged it,\u201d McConaughey wrote. \u201cWhen you came to the Galaxy you gave MLS fresh legitimacy, you turned games into events, and essentially changed MLS from a proving ground to a premier destination. THANK YOU.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much work remains, both in terms of finishing the construction, all the surrounding areas \u2014 the team has promised parks, soccer fields, retail shops and more as part of the complex \u2014 and there\u2019s still final certifications to obtain from various governmental agencies. Garber said he isn\u2019t worried about any of that affecting Inter Miami\u2019s home schedule going forward.<\/p>\n
MLS gave Inter Miami several road matches to start the season, buying the team time to get closer to finishing construction. And though outside was a traffic nightmare, things seemed to go off without a hitch inside the stadium.<\/p>\n
Garber said his initial assessment Saturday was that the stadium was \u201cbreathtaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s happened in the last 30 days to where they are today is just remarkable,\u201d Garber said. \u201cIt\u2019s way further along than I expected it to be. And I\u2019ve learned a lesson that when people tell you things are going to get done, sometimes you\u2019ve just got to trust them.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Don Garber remembers the earliest days of David Beckham\u2019s plans to bring Major League Soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17159,15257,42066,1882,28,99487,5429,15259,99489,1660,1510,99488,123,125,124,10191,2062,110,5537,21682],"class_list":{"0":"post-219342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-austin-fc","9":"tag-david-beckham","10":"tag-don-garber","11":"tag-fl-state-wire","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-guilherme-biro","14":"tag-inter-miami-cf","15":"tag-javier-mascherano","16":"tag-leo-messi","17":"tag-lionel-messi","18":"tag-marc-anthony","19":"tag-matthew-mcconaughey","20":"tag-miami","21":"tag-miami-headlines","22":"tag-miami-news","23":"tag-mls-soccer","24":"tag-soccer","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-texas","27":"tag-tx-state-wire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}