MIAMI — Tata Martino is an NBA fan. He rarely broadcasts his hidden passion to the world, but give him a nudge and proof will tumble off his tongue. Martino knows, for example, that the Milwaukee Bucks are excellent. He knows that the Washington Wizards stink. And he seems well-versed in a craze that has defined the modern NBA, the “superteam.” Try to explain that American term to the 61-year-old Argentine, and he’ll nod assuredly.
It’s a team full of stars that everyone assumes will win, I told Martino last week, prefacing a question.
“And they don’t always win,” he said, interjecting — and conveniently framing the most novel project of his long, worldly soccer life.
Martino coaches Inter Miami, Major League Soccer’s first true superteam. With Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets and now Luis Suarez, they are the clearest MLS preseason favorite (+200) in at least a decade, and undoubtedly the most-hyped ever. As they ambled onto a training pitch Saturday for their first session of preseason, they glanced right to see around 50 reporters and cameramen gawking.
Later, with privacy mostly restored, they plopped down on two gray benches to unwind. Messi curled up with a drink; Busquets stripped off his sweaty socks; Suarez and Jordi Alba flashed toothy smiles. Shared memories resurfaced. And surrealness sunk in.
The scene belonged in Barcelona, perhaps in 2015, en route to a famous treble.
But here they were, four friends and serial champions, on a small strip of Florida pavement, in the shadow of a stopgap stadium, amid Fort Lauderdale’s rundown warehouses and repair shops, in MLS.
They are, in many ways, out of place in a league bogged down by modesty and parity. So they are widely expected to dominate it. Their salaries outstrip most entire team payrolls. Their résumés are unlike anything MLS has ever seen. And they did not come here to vacation. “We are very ambitious,” Suarez said Saturday. They’ve come “to dream.” They will enter four distinct competitions in 2024: the league, Leagues Cup, Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions Cup. “And why not dream of winning all four titles?” Suarez pondered aloud.
They very well could, because they, with Inter Miami, boast the most talented roster in MLS history.
Their worry, and their…