Column: Inter Miami's friendly vs. Barcelona back-fired horribly due to lopsided result
Losing 6-0 to Barcelona on Tuesday undid whatever marketing and PR positives Inter Miami was hoping for
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — “To keep it to 6-0 was probably a real positive for us.”
That phrase was one small but significant snippet from Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville’s opening post-game remarks on Tuesday night following a humbling defeat to FC Barcelona in a friendly at Drv Pnk Stadium. Neville was seemingly searching for bright spots to talk about after a dismantling that reminded everyone just how big of a gulf in quality there is between MLS and clubs at the highest levels, but the reality was there were not many if any.
Losing to star-studded Barcelona is, of course, certainly no crime, even when the elite Spanish giants are in preseason, but being danced around effortlessly while looking that uncompetitive is damaging to the brand and product that Inter Miami wants to so desperately grow — regardless of whether it was a friendly and regardless of the amount of PR spin that was delivered post-game to attempt to mitigate the result of the embarrassing exhibition.
“We competed,” said Neville on Tuesday after his team was outshot 23-1. “We tried our best, we never quit, we never stopped running. These are the characteristics of our team, this is the identity of our team.
“That is the reality, that we are playing against the best, and that is why it is such an enjoyable experience and learning experience for us.”
It may have been enjoyable to an extent to be on the same field as the famed blaugrana, but losing as badly as the Herons did and performing as poorly as they did in front of a sold-out crowd and with more spectators tuning in from all over the world is not a positive. After all, the main reason for this game was to get more eyeballs on the South Florida side, in addition to bringing in a bit more coin to the owners’ pockets.
A lot of those spectators who watched Inter Miami for the first time will, however, have walked away thinking how unattractive and poor the MLS team’s level is after watching that futbol clinic. Especially since Barcelona was a mere few days into its preseason while Inter Miami is in midseason form.
Given that, this friendly back-fired in a big way. The lopsided loss did nothing but add to the perception that Inter Miami is all show and no go, all style but no substance, all talk but no walk. Whatever PR boost the team was hoping for was outdone by that crash course in attractive soccer that Barcelona provided on the field.
Undoing some of the damage will take a lot of time, effort, work, and wins. Inter Miami may have gotten an economic and marketing lift in the short-term — and make no mistake, business reasons, not sporting ones, were the reason why this friendly was scheduled — but the rout added another scuff to the Herons’ on-field reputation in the process.
“It is not enjoyable,” said Neville. “It is not enjoyable to lose games. It is not enjoyable to concede goals.”
Friendly or not, you can bet anything you own that Inter Miami would have boasted proudly, both publicly and privately, for the rest of the year and longer had the team found a way to win or draw against Barcelona. There would have been talk about how the franchise is doing things right, developing players well, and more.
Losing, then, should not just be swept under the rug immediately. Not when it came in such lopsided fashion and with plenty fans around the world watching.