Tata Martino has Inter Miami winning games, with and without Messi, Suarez. Here’s how

The casual fan may look at the MLS standings and think, “Well, of course Inter Miami is in first place. How could they lose with a roster that includes Argentine legend Lionel Messi and his former Barcelona teammates Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba?”

The famous quartet certainly deserves plenty of credit, with Messi and Suarez combining for 24 of Miami’s league-leading 46 goals heading into the road game Saturday against Nashville SC. But it also is worth noting that the team is 2-0 without Messi and Suarez this month while they are away playing in Copa America with their national teams.

Miami won back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Union and defending MLS champion Columbus Crew with goals by Leo Afonso, Julian Gressel, Leo Campana and Ian Fray. The men in pink continue to score and win under the leadership of coach Tata Martino, who has been pulling the team’s strings in the shadows of his superstar players since he arrived last summer.

The 61-year-old Argentine coach showed up last July with an impressive resume, MLS experience, and the gravitas to command the respect of Messi, Busquets, Alba, and later, Suarez. Martino coached Messi, Busquets and Alba at Barcelona in 2013-14.

He coached teams to four titles in Paraguay’s first division, led Paraguay to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup and a Copa América final, led his hometown team Newell’s Old Boys to the Argentine league title, led Argentina to a pair of Copa America finals, and spent nearly three years coaching the Mexican national team after leading Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title in the club’s second season in existence.

Martino arrived at Inter Miami with an unprecedented task: Take over a last place team and integrate four of the greatest players of their generation into a roster that included a half dozen young players making $71,401 a year.

Five weeks later, Inter Miami won the Leagues Cup title, the first trophy in team history, after beating Nashville in a dramatic final that went to 11 rounds of penalty kicks. Martino watched with a smile as Messi was tossed up into the air by his jubilant teammates.

Gressel, who played for Martino on Atlanta United’s 2018 Cup champion team, is not surprised that the coach has Miami atop the MLS standings this season with 41 points through 20 games.

“Tata is the perfect fit for this team,” Gressel said. “He has the intensity to push younger guys but also the experience and knowledge of how to manage a really successful team with stars. He knows MLS. He knows Leo Messi and Busquets and Jordi and Luis Suarez. He can combine all that knowledge he gained over those years and really bring out the best in us. When Miami made that hire, I wasn’t with the club yet, but I remember thinking, ‘This is absolutely a no-brainer.’”

Martino is intense and demanding but gives the fab four a bit more freedom than the rest of the squad, which is to be expected, Gressel said. He must manage the workload of aging stars such as Messi and Suarez, and even persuade them to sit out games on occasion, even if it draws the ire of fans who paid big bucks to see them play.

“You don’t really coach Leo Messi anymore, or Luis Suarez; Those guys are so beyond that, so it’s about managing them and managing the team around them,” Gressel said. “He has a really good feel for that.”

Rookie Yannick Bright added: “Tata understands people, no matter if you’re a starter or not. A lot of coaches focus on their starters, but he focuses on the whole team. That gives him a lot of credibility and trust from players. It’s not an easy job to manage those big players and to put together a cohesive team. I don’t think he gets enough credit.”

Martino said experience coaching national teams prepared him for the Inter Miami job.

“Of course, it is rare for four stars to show up together, especially in MLS, but dealing with young players and stars is not new to me,” Martino said. “As a national team coach, you often have world-class players with a lot of experience, and you collaborate with the young players who are developing. As a coach, your job is not restricted to training during the week and playing games on weekends. You are also expected to develop and integrate young players while coexisting with the big-name players.”

Martino speaks limited English, so he relies on assistant coach Javi Morales to act as translator. His scouting meetings are detail filled and famously long, and Morales repeats everything in English to make sure all the players understand.

“Tata has created a culture in the club where the team is united and feels it can win, no excuses, even when players are missing for national team and injuries,” Morales said. “He is authentic and honest with everyone, whether it’s Messi or a player from the academy.”

Martino’s years in Atlanta taught him the ins and outs of MLS.

“MLS is different from every other league in the world,” Martino said. “When you want to reach the highest level of MLS and play CONCACAF Champions League against the best teams from other countries, having a limited salary structure in MLS restricts your ability to compete on a level playing field. As an MLS coach you have to constantly update your roster due to the salary rules where in any other league you don’t have those restrictions.”

Gressel noted that Martino is more knowledgeable about MLS now than he was in Atlanta.

“He certainly has a better feel for opponents,” Gressel said. “He knows their tendencies. His approach to games is very similar to what it was then, but he gives more off days now because he knows how demanding the travel is in this league. He also understands it’s not about being first at the end of the season. It’s about peaking at the right time when the playoffs are here.”

Martino conceded that it took him time to adjust to MLS.

“In Atlanta, we were forewarned about the demands of the league, about precautions when we had to play midweek games, about the travel, but I resisted that advice at first,” he said. “We learned as we went on that we did have to take some of that advice from those who knew the league better and not just implement our ways to prove a point.”

Despite all his success, Martino has never sought attention. He is perfectly fine letting players make headlines.

“I don’t think he needs it; the table speaks for itself,” Gressel said. “The results in the past few weeks speak for themselves. Seeing us happy is what makes Tata happy. He doesn’t seek credit from the media or fans. All he wants is for us to be successful and that’s where his satisfaction will come from.”