Inter Miami update with Chris Wittyngham - are Messi & co poised for an MLS title run? - video Dailymotion

WQAM-AM / AM 560 Sports WQAM

Chris Wittyngham will be on the call of Inter Miami @ NYCFC tonight on Apple TV. He joins the show for an Inter Miami update including whether or not the roster is built for a title run and his take on rumors regarding a fractured locker room.

Transcript

00:00Chris Whittingham I thought it'd be funny if we made him jump on for five minutes here but then

00:04I never went to him but he uh admittedly I I didn't realize that Inter Miami played tonight

00:10until he had texted me something and I know he's on the call tonight is it Apple TV tonight Whitty

00:15yes indeed MLS season pass on Apple TV Inter Miami away at New York City tonight I'll be on

00:20the call and Solana was telling us normally that would be at where Yankee Stadium but tonight

00:25it's Citi Field yes yes uh New York City have been splitting time between Yankee Stadium and

00:31Citi Field now for 11 years or 10 years and they're actually finally building a new stadium

00:36and it's across the street from Citi Field I think that's kind of part of the reason why

00:39maybe there's other venue related uh issues but I think they're like trying to get their fan base

00:44used to coming out to Queens um because their new stadium is going to be here it's literally right

00:49across the street so uh it is that city Leo Messi playing tonight yep yep we're expecting Leo Messi

00:55to play and to start tonight these are big games for Miami to climb up the standings and uh they

01:01obviously need Messi had two goals and another assist at the weekend against DC United he is playing

01:06some of his best soccer even still so yeah we're expecting him to start tonight and we always I guess

01:11we talk about the bad times when Messi takes off or Suarez is out and all that is Inter Miami legit

01:17like can they are they gonna whoop some people's tails and win a championship so I think they have

01:22the attack to do so they have the best attack in Major League Soccer they've scored 60 goals in 28

01:27games uh that attacking figure looks amazing relative to the rest of the league the wrong

01:32problem is that they've given away 46 they do not have a very good defense and I think we've talked

01:36about this before on the show where I just think that there is a bit of a structural problem with

01:42Miami and it is based on the fact that they have three or four aging stars that just don't have the

01:47ability to put in the defensive commitment that they used to and so you end up with these huge

01:52spaces all over the pitch and there are a lot of teams in MLS that can take advantage of them and

01:56if you actually look at uh talk with the coach Javier Mascherana before this game and he said that

02:00they've given away 10 goals in their life actually it's 11 goals in their last four away matches and so

02:06they have been absolutely struggling defensively over the course of this season and really since these

02:13guys all came here so I think it's those vulnerabilities that leave you wondering if they're going to be able

02:18to get it done um but in any one-off game are you really betting against Messi you're betting against

02:23Suarez you're betting against whomever uh to to go for and to go forward and win something major

02:30is it ability or just lazy you're talking about the defense like it sounds like you're saying the old

02:36guys are lazy no I'm not saying that they're lazy what I'm saying is is that I do think in a 90

02:41minute game where most players run in nine to ten miles in the blazing hot South Florida sun

02:47that it's really hard for players who have played for 18 or 19 years to still be able to run

02:53for 90 full minutes for I believe tonight is Miami's 47th game of the season it's just an unreasonable

02:59ask and so I think that Miami is predicated upon having possession but when they lose it

03:05they're just vulnerable in so many positions and part of that is because Busquets for as amazing as he is

03:10on the ball is right in the middle of the park but it just doesn't have the speed and frankly never

03:14really had speed there were never really a team that that chased players down Barcelona back in the

03:18day and now when they lose possession and games turn over and that I think problem might even be

03:24exacerbated here tonight because they're playing on a baseball stadium baseball dimensions for soccer

03:30are much smaller than a game at Chase Stadium this is a smaller field uh and so it will be much

03:36harder for them to keep possession because every pass all of a sudden defender is a yard closer to

03:41you because there just are fewer yards on the pitch so it's just confrontation after confrontation after

03:45confrontation and New York City because they've been playing on this field for 11 years now they know

03:51how to play these games they're incredibly good at home uh and I think Miami might struggle with a

03:56different kind of game without the ball and what happens is you become a little bit more vulnerable

04:00defensively on the counter-attack as a result Busquets uses an entire bottle of WD-40 before

04:05games crowded to literally grease up the lower part of witty I'm gonna ask you tabloid stuff here and if

04:12you think it's nonsense you tell me I genuinely I read the tabloids in in South America specifically

04:17Argentina and I know my brother's always reading that stuff as well do you think it's fair to say

04:23that within the locker room of inner Miami it's fractured a bit like it's the Fantastic Four and

04:31Mascherano and them and then everybody else because there's there's been a lot of again tabloid stuff

04:36but also like legitimate sources that that talk deeply about this that you know inner Miami a lot

04:43of their struggles yes structurally 100% I don't think defensively their roster is built correctly

04:47witty we've talked about that but I also think you know there might be some truth to the fact that

04:51those guys don't all necessarily get along anymore I mean I don't know I obviously don't have the

04:58insight to be able to tell you that things are going wrong behind the scenes I do know just sort

05:03of from a holistic standpoint looking at all of major league soccer you talk to a lot of coaches and

05:08executives around the league and they are emphasizing more and more this idea that the rules and MLS

05:14incentivize you to have two or three players that are paid much more than everyone else and that that

05:20can create problems within a locker room and that teams are deciding to not quite go out and spend

05:25seven eight nine million dollars a year on salary for a player because they know what it'll do to

05:30their locker room so for instance New York City went and got a new really good player but he's from the

05:34Spanish league was playing in the lower end of the Spanish league he's making probably 1.82 million

05:38which is still relatively close to the rest of his teammates if they go out and get someone who is

05:43making eight million then that's a huge disparity and so that is a thing that happens around major league

05:48soccer and that a lot of teams are putting a lot of thought into now not having such a big disparity

05:53obviously the close connection between all of them would make you think that they would lean towards

05:58hanging out with each other right DePaul Suarez Alba Messi and Busquets they have such a connection

06:03that they would spend all the time together so it's a it's possible but I don't know for sure

06:08the one thing that I do know is that in the last game that Miami played against DC they're three one up or

06:14they might have been two and up at the time they get a penalty and Lionel Messi hands it off

06:20to their newest signing a 19 year old called Mateo Silvetti to take the penalty Lionel Messi's in the

06:25middle of a golden boot race this is an easy one he can stick in the corner and get another goal to

06:29his goal tally instead he hands it off to the new teenage signing so Messi at the very least outwardly

06:34on the pitch knows that he has to be a really good team player and will give credit often to the

06:39teammates that are necessarily his best friends so I do think that he does the right things publicly

06:44but I I don't have enough insight to know for sure that of what's going on behind the scenes

06:49Chris Whittingham will be on the call tonight Apple TV a little inter-Miami soccer for you on a

06:56Wednesday night have you had a dirty water hot dog while you've been in New York

07:00uh no but they were there were plenty on offer on the way in from the train I took the Long Island

07:05Railroad in and uh the walk to the train station or walk from the train station is much busier than

07:11it usually is normally no hot dog no pretzel no nothing all I do have here since we are at

07:17Citi Field is uh they were kind enough to leave us a box of popcorn here to have maybe before or

07:23after the game Whitty is a popcorn aficionado not just the popcorn but the delivery device I'm not a

07:30big fan show that box again I'm not a big fan of the box of popcorn it's not conducive to putting

07:36your hand in like a round bucket is yeah you know what I completely agree with you I do think they

07:42do this because they pre-pack a lot of these they make the popcorn and mass and then they box them so

07:47they can just hand you a box so you can we can get this line moving a little quicker than if they

07:51had to scoop them every single time let's uh have a have a couple pieces of popcorn there yeah for sure

07:55honestly it's a great time normally I have a very strong rule against not eating popcorn close to

08:00kickoff because I have done games after eating popcorn and it's not gone well for the voice but

08:06we're two and a half hours to kick off so I'll have a couple of handfuls here

08:11what about the poor what about the poor yeah you don't have to retalk you can pour

08:16no nobody likes the poor it's like you're like an animal it's not uh it's not aesthetically pleasing

08:25you see someone pouring uh anybody who any food don't pour food into your mouth or a drink into

08:33your mouth there's no situation where pouring food into your mouth is appropriate even honestly

08:38that hand gesture that you just did out of context it looks terrible never mind actually yeah the actual

08:44act of the food falling you know what you don't want you don't want that scene what do you give

08:48the uh what do you give that popcorn one to ten busquets uh probably a six and a half busquets

08:56six and a half busquets yeah I will say though in fairness to the fine folks at city field this is

09:01not freshly made popcorn I imagine if I went on to the concourse that have some good stuff but

09:05um that that is a little bit older so I'll say a solid six and a half for the Mets popcorn

09:09this was delightful um have fun have a good broadcast who's your broadcast partner tonight

09:15I'm with uh Lori Lindsay tonight former U.S. Women's National Teamer so uh what we do all the

09:20MLS games together and uh again MLS Season Pass on Apple TV 730 Inter-Miami away at New York City

09:25there you go Chris Whittingham thanks Whitty yep cheers guys

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Inter Miami update with Chris Wittyngham - are Messi & co poised for an MLS title run?

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