The backdrop of bulldozers, cranes and countless construction crews provided the perfect metaphor for Inter Miami, the expansion Major League Soccer team, which on Monday morning held its first full practice at the team's yet-to-be completed Fort Lauderdale practice facility.
The 50,000-square foot training headquarters and adjacent 18,000-seat stadium are still more than a month from their scheduled completion; but the practice fields looked perfect, and that is what the players care most about as they build toward their inaugural game on the road March 1 at Los Angeles FC.
They will train there the rest of this week, play a closed-door scrimmage against New York FC on Wednesday and head to St. Petersburg this weekend for their first public game Saturday at 4 p.m. against the Philadelphia Union.
Why both see promising futures here.
One key player missing from the intense workouts is Argentine forward Julian Carranza, who injured his left foot on Jan. 30 while the team trained in Port St. Lucie. Carranza is expected to be out 12 weeks from the date of the injury, which means he would return in early May, according to Inter Miami sporting director Paul McDonough.
The 19-year-old, who was one of Inter Miami's first signees last summer, was considered one of the team's most promising attacking players.
"It's tough for him, and for us, but we'll do everything we can to get him healthy as soon as possible," McDonough said. "It's possible he could come back sooner, depending on how he heals, but we were told 12 weeks."
Nico Figal, the Argentine center back, said the players are doing all they can to lift Carranza's spirits.
"It hurts to lose him like it would any player," Figal said "By losing Juli, we lose a lot because he's a very important player for us, a player who has a lot of promise, a forward that comes from a great start in Argentina. But we'll try to replace him the best we can. It's tough for any player to deal with an injury. We are all asking him what he needs, supporting him. We know it's a difficult time for him. But we have a very united group and that makes him very happy."
The loss of Carranza makes the filling of the team's two Designated Player spots even more urgent. McDonough and team co-owners David Beckham and Jorge Mas are working diligently to get deals done to fill the final few roster slots.
According to reports from Mexico and a league source, Inter Miami is close to signing Mexican national team midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro, who played for Alonso at Pachuca and Monterrey. The sides were working out finances of Pizzaro's buyout/release clause, and he could join the team as early as this week. A deal for a high-profile Europe-based player is also in the works, according to sources.
Pizarro, 25, played for Pachuca from 2012 to 2016, Guadalajara in 2017-18 and Monterrey since 2018. He has played 25 games for the Mexican national team, and also played on their U21 and U23 teams.
Asked to comment on Pizarro on Monday, Alonso said: "I don't comment on players who are not on my team. It isn't right. It's disrespectful to the player and his current club. I only speak about players who are on my team."
Asked if he is expecting more players to join the team soon, Alonso replied: "We have two franchise spots left to fill, and I am sure they will get here. We are working hard on that, and we have ideas of who they are, but we don't talk about players who are not here."
Inter Miami played a closed-door scrimmage against the USL team Charleston Battery last Friday. Although they didn't offer details, Alonso and players said it was productive.
"It was a training scrimmage for us, and we wanted to see if what we had been working on in practice we could implement on the field, and it went very well," Alonso said. "We have to keep improving and moving forward."
Midfielder Wil Trapp joined Inter Miami last week after seven years with the Columbus Crew. He is impressed with all he has seen so far.
"The scrimmage on Friday was a wonderful training exercise, a great way for us to measure ourselves," Trapp said. "There were some excellent things, implementing what Diego and his staff have been harping on and preaching to us. You saw those things. How we want to build play, defend. Obviously, there are details to improve, but it was a wonderful start, seeing it in live time."
Walking past the construction zone to practice on Monday, and seeing the progress of the $100 million complex was exciting, Trapp said.
"I don't know other superlatives that have been used other than amazing, incredible," he said. "It's setting the standard for this league in what can be done and what will be done in the future. For us as players, we're building a culture from Square One, and that's incredible to be a part of. It's fresh. It's exciting."
