EXCLUSIVE: Barcelona legend is coaching his old friends, and tells GOAL the understanding between them is the key
Javier Mascherano doesn't mix it in in training these days.
There were the old times, when the new Inter Miami manager would be there, in Rondos with Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Luis Suarez as a Barcelona player between 2010-18. There he was, going viral for an unfortunate nutmeg here and there, and bossing the quartet around the Catalonian training pitch in Barcelona. And on the weekends, he was playing behind them as one of the club's legendary defensive midfielders, shouting and tackling from deep as the famous side bossed both La Liga and Europe.
But not anymore.
"I left a long time ago as a football player," Mascherano told GOAL. "Now I'm just focusing on training, and focusing on the players."
And that is some job to take on. Mascherano, as has been well documented, has limited experience as a head coach. He has never taken the helm for any professional club at any level. His resume consists of a number of jobs in the Argentina youth setup, backed up by a 20-year-long professional career that included four La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues, and a stint as Barcelona vice-captain.
This particular role, though, is unique. Not only is Mascherano taking on his first job, but he is also the man on the sidelines for the most-watched team in American soccer. And he will have to do it all while controlling the noise around the four footballers he used to be training with, every single day.
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Mascherano and Messi played for Barca together for eight years. They suited up in Argentina for 13 (Mascherano famously handed him the country's armband in 2014). Throw in the appearances with Busquets, Alba, and Suarez, and there are around 1,000 games of experience in some sort of combination. Put more simply, these guys know each other pretty well. For Mascherano, though, that means piecing together the best environment to help them thrive.
"I'm here to try to help them. Like I said from the first day, I'm here to help them have success. There aren't too many secrets in football. You have to try to give them some ideas and they will take the rest," Mascherano said.
But that doesn't necessarily make this whole thing easy. The Barcelona quartet has a combined 146 years of experience between the four of them. These are aging legs, but also wise football heads. There isn't much more that Mascherano can teach. Instead, it is his job to develop a playing style, something cohesive that can ensure that this team can deal with the grind of an MLS season.
"[Mascherano] is very possession-based," Inter Miami midfielder Benjamin Cremaschi told GOAL. "He wants us to have the ball. He doesn't want to be chasing the ball around."
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Yet there's a conflict in that. Experience or otherwise, this Miami side – despite setting an MLS points record – crashed out of the playoffs in the first round. Something clearly needs to happen here. And there have been attempts to address those shortcomings. For one, the intensity level is up.
"This year's training sessions are a little more intense," Cremaschi told GOAL. "We need to be in great shape to compete. And MLS is a very physical league."
There has also been a real bite to extensive preseason tour of Central America. It started in Mexico when Messi was pictured arguing with Club America fans during Miami's penalty shootout win. Mascherano, for his part, brushed it off as chatter between two rival countries.
"I think that we have more important issues to deal with, yes and logically I have had to play against Mexican teams and against the Mexican national team, we know that they are usually hostile towards us Argentines and well I think that also after the World Cup that wound is still open," he said in a press conference following the game.
Friendly or otherwise, there has been a real emotion around this whole thing. Since then, the noise has only grown louder. Messi was on the end of a crunching tackle in the preseason friendly — something that riled up the Miami bench. There have been highly-publicized social media posts from his bodyguard, Yassine Cheuko. This might have been a feel-good tour, but Miami has a real target on its back.
"There were some tackles flying… but it kind of builds you and gets you right into the mindset of the season. Even though it might be difficult or tough to deal with in the moments, it's good for us in the long run," Cremaschi said.
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Talk to anyone around the club: Mascherano, Cremaschi, Fafa Picault, and others, and they will all say that the success of this side is reliant on one thing: making sure Messi has space, time, and legs to be the catalyst this team. It has been the remit of any number of teams the Argentine has played in for some time now. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni surrounded him with hard-nosed midfielders and willing runners during the Albiceleste's World Cup run. PSG sacrificed midfield creativity to give him space to roam. Barca did a similar thing in bringing in Arturo Vidal in 2019.
And there's an understanding of the same for Miami. For some, such as Picault, that means making sacrificial runs:
"I'm dangerous when I'm getting into good spots," Picault explained. "If I continue to make my runs, it's going to free [Messi] up, or it's going to make him give another crazy pass that we've seen him do a million times."
For others, such as Cremaschi, that simply means bringing a sense of energy.
"[Their desire] is something that that us young guys, we see and we respect and obviously we try to get attached to that energy that they bring and that desire to win," Cremaschi outlined.
For Mascherano, it's about making sure this whole thing is harmonious.
"He's the best player in the history of this sport. So around him always, you can find a lot of things, but I see him very quiet, relaxed, happy and I think our target is to try to give them the tools to have a very good season," he said.
Either way, a happy Messi is a good Messi. And a good Messi is what Miami needs.
(C)Getty ImagesCremaschi and an expanded role
This could be a pivotal season for Cremaschi. Named to both the USMNT Olympic roster last summer and the January camp squad last month, the Argentine-American figures to play a key role this year. He was, at times, misused last season, charged with playing in a defensive midfield role when he is a far more natural box-to-box presence, full of energy and attacking quality. He knows that under a new manager, he will be handed further chances.
"I want to be an important player for this team. Obviously, it's hard with the players that that we have, but I feel like I could help," Cremaschi said.
Part of the appeal, for him at least, is making up for what happened last season. He was on the pitch when Atlanta beat Miami in game three of the first round of MLS playoffs. He knows what it was like to be on the wrong end of a generational upset.
"We don't want that to happen to us again. I think we obviously had a great regular season… but I think we always have more to prove. We should be a top team in this league, in the competitions that we play," Cremaschi said.
Mascherano, too, will be counting on him. Such is the intensity of Miami's schedule that he will need his full squad to chip in. Those on the bench early on will be counted on later. There will be ample opportunities for everyone.
"It's important for us to talk to the players, to have the commitment during all the season," Mascherano said. "Maybe the players that don't start the season will be important during and the end of the season. So it's important to have a very good squad."
It would all seem set up nicely for Cremaschi, still only 19, to break out in full.