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<\/p>\nIt sounded like a nice story. Guillermo Hoyos, the man who was a father figure for a teenage Lionel Messi in Barcelona, would coach the superstar Argentine at Inter Miami. But Hoyos, 63, is now spearheading one of Inter Miami\u2019s worst stretches since it entered MLS in 2020.<\/p>\n
Hoyos\u2019 side is winless in five matches, including Leagues Cup, where Inter Miami failed to advance from the group stage. The team has looked inept on defense during that time, conceding 12 goals, some due to poor fundamentals and a lack of awareness, others in comical fashion.<\/p>\n
The question now is whether a decades-long Messi ally and close family friend can be fired for poor performance. Miami has had alarming results before, but it is how this team is losing under Hoyos that should raise a red flag at the club\u2019s Fort Lauderdale facility. Inter Miami is tactically bereft, with a style of play that relies heavily on Messi rather than a collective strategy.<\/p>\n
Miami is currently second in the MLS Eastern Conference table, but that\u2019s hardly a reason not to worry.\u00a0The club is 10 points behind first-place Nashville SC, a team that throttled Messi and Co 4-1 on Aug. 15. And Miami\u2019s Leagues Cup performances were forgettable. What has been memorable are Hoyos\u2019 excuses and constant need to idolize Messi rather than coach him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no words,\u201d Hoyos said about Messi\u2019s goal and assist in Miami\u2019s 4-2 win over Atletico San Luis in Leagues Cup on Aug. 5. \u201cThe boys were showing me the first goal he scored. Those of us who have played football know what it\u2019s like. If we were talking about painting, (Messi) would be Picasso.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Lionel Messi controls the ball during a Leagues Cup match against Atletico San Luis. (Rich Storry\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Every coach who Messi has had at the elite level has praised him unconditionally. Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, Luis Enrique and others have separated Messi from every other player on the planet. Former Miami head coach Tata Martino regularly referred to him as the best player in the world. That\u2019s all fine. But Hoyos has taken his allegiance to new heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe needs to be looked after much more,\u201d Hoyos said after a 4-2 win over Toronto FC on May 9. \u201cThere\u2019s only one Messi. Take care of him, because he fills stadiums. Don\u2019t abandon him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messi scored twice that day in the first of four consecutive wins before the World Cup break. It was a fairly typical Messi performance, but it came after an embarrassing 4-3 loss to Orlando City in which Miami blew a 3-0 lead. Toronto fans didn\u2019t roll out the red carpet for the eight-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner, either. Instead, they booed him like many other fan bases often do.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay whatever you have to say, there\u2019s no problem with public expression,\u201d Hoyos said. \u201cBut these players need to be protected because they\u2019re the real protagonists.\u201c His condescending tone mirrored one of his more outlandish claims since taking over for Javier Mascherano, who walked away from the club in January after winning the MLS Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that Inter Miami, and this is a personal opinion, is among the 10 biggest clubs in the world. Not just MLS,\u201d he said in April.<\/p>\n
If that were true, Hoyos wouldn\u2019t have the job he currently holds.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Javier Mascherano stepped down in Miami in April. (Leonardo Fernandez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cTrust in God\u201d was one of Hoyos\u2019 solutions to Miami\u2019s current run of results. He also blamed the congested football calendar and heat and humidity of South Florida as reasons for his team\u2019s below-average play.\u00a0 Those are valid points, but the calendar and weather are two factors that Hoyos cannot control or change. He can improve Miami\u2019s tactics or find new ways to motivate a team that includes World Cup winners and experienced internationals. But therein lies the problem.<\/p>\n
Hoyos\u2019 coaching resum\u00e9 wouldn\u2019t get him through the door at any of the 10 biggest clubs in the world. It wouldn\u2019t get him a job in MLS other than the one he has in Miami. He has had 16 stints and two league titles as a head coach in Greece, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, among others. In MLS, he inherited the league\u2019s best team and is now responsible for Miami\u2019s steady decline. Casemiro, the Brazilian international and new designated player, has looked pedestrian since joining after the World Cup. Former Real Madrid fullback Sergio Reguil\u00f3n, who replaced the retired Jordi Alba, is more hustle than polish and is nothing more than a short-term answer at left fullback.<\/p>\n
Both center backs, Maxi Falcon and Micael, play with a nervousness that is awkward to watch. And Miami\u2019s goalkeepers, Rocco Rios Novo and Dayne St. Clair, are a major source of anxiety for the club\u2019s supporters. But perhaps the biggest indictment of Hoyos comes in midfield. There is no identity or semblance of structure. Miami\u2019s spine is a problem. A Casemiro-Rodrigo De Paul midfield duo sounds good on paper, but the partnership is more of a weakness than a strength.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s Yannick Bright, who under Martino emerged as one of the league\u2019s most promising young midfielders, but hasn\u2019t performed at that level since the Argentine left the club. He has become just as inconsistent as the team around him.<\/p>\n
Miami\u2019s laundry list of tactical problems appears too much for Hoyos and his staff to solve.<\/p>\n
Messi himself, who continues to mourn the death of his father, has looked increasingly disinterested and frustrated. During Miami\u2019s 2-2 draw against the Philadelphia Union on Aug. 22, he slapped midfielder Quinn Sullivan off the ball and was later fined an undisclosed amount<\/a> for violating the MLS policy regarding hands to the face\/head\/neck.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a fix to this, and it begins with Miami playing better. But Miami can only pray its talent outperforms the coaching as long as Hoyos, an unserious hire blessed by Messi and made official by the front office, is in charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It sounded like a nice story. Guillermo Hoyos, the man who was a father figure for a teenage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5429,123,125,124,5692,2062],"class_list":["post-382548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-mls","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382548","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=382548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}