Arriving in Miami in 2023, Lionel Messi, the world’s greatest footballer, set about sprinkling a little of his magic dust.
Change at Inter Miami began with upgrades to the Florida Blue Training Centre, the £50million facility where Scotland coach Steven Naismith took the players through a session in temperatures of 32 degrees centigrade ahead of Saturday’s final warm-up game against Bolivia in New Jersey and a first appearance at the World Cup finals for 28 years.
Despite moving to a massive new home at Miami Freedom Park, David Beckham’s Inter can afford to keep two stadiums. Their Fort Lauderdale training facility, adjacent to their old 21,500-capacity Chase Stadium, remains their immaculate, perfectly-maintained HQ.
From the palm trees in the car park to the giant Inter Miami club crest on a multi-coloured wall of pink, grey and black tiles and grass pitches which would put a bowling club to shame, everything about the facility is impeccable. Built in 2020, Messi arrived three years later to refine things, and what Leo craved, Leo got.
The 50,000-square foot site now boasts six natural grass fields and one turf field, as well as a weight room, classrooms, hydrotherapy suites, a lounge, cafeteria and performance labs serving pro and youth players.
Contracted to Inter until 2028, Messi will then transition to a minority ownership role at the club he elevated from MLS basement dwellers to one of the most decorated in league history. Charged with creating a world-class sporting destination, Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain is a familiar face at the practice pitches in the afternoon to watch the academy players in action.
Scotland are not the only World Cup side clamouring to use the facilities. Preparing for their first World Cup appearance since 1974, Group C opponents Haiti trained at the Florida Blue before last night’s warm-up game against New Zealand in Fort Lauderdale, a game watched by Clarke and his management team. The Haitians also play Peru at the Nu Stadium on Friday.
The Turkish national team will play Venezuela at the same venue the next day, and the use of the facilities seems likely to make a reasonable dent in the SFA’s £9.5million World Cup windfall. At this World Cup, nothing comes cheap.
Where the training pitch in Garmisch before the Euro 2024 finals fell below the level required, nothing has been left to chance for this tournament. They say that every time, of course. Speaking to figures on the fringes of the backroom staff yesterday, they spoke of players being treated like kings.
They do nothing for themselves because every whim, every need, is catered for by one of the 45 non-playing staff who travelled to America to give them the best chance of reaching the knock-out stages for the first time ever.
The challenges are many. As Scotland players trained under a blazing hot sun, even the manager is leaving nothing to chance. Steve Clarke’s aversion to sun cream saw him play it safe in a full tracksuit.
Players are given different training kits for breakfast, lunch and dinner because Clarke wants his team to relax in casual clothing for downtime and meals. The first-team kits, meanwhile, were flown out a week early and have already left for New Jersey in a van to make sure they make it in time for the Bolivia game.
The lessons absorbed from recent appearances at major tournaments are being applied this time around. The Bavarian training camp for the last Euros was isolated and excessively quiet and, to combat the risk of boredom this time around, the team will set up camp in the bustling city of Charlotte, North Carolina – midway between the match venues in Boston and Miami.
“Garmisch was good,” reflects manager Clarke. “The place was good, the hotel was good but we just felt on reflection we were looking for more city-centre locations like this one. Charlotte is also a city-centre location.
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“The circumstances about how we got the training facility here are a little strange because we came out to look at one at Palm Beach, which we liked. The pitches were good and we had a nice hotel lined up.
“But we got gazumped by two pot one teams for the facilities.
“Then we found out Argentina – who were going to use Inter Miami as a pre-camp or main camp – had decided to go to Kansas. So this became available sort of at the last minute and we managed to secure it. So it’s worked out really well.
“The pitches are top class and that’s always the first criteria. We’ve got everything we need there. A nice gym, nice facilities inside and top pitches. That’s what the players want – the best.”
Clarke has never been afraid to make demands of the SFA board. While the governing body will make a profit from the FIFA prize money coming for playing in America, a third of the cash will go to player bonuses. Another third will go towards giving the squad the very best chance available to make history by becoming the first Scotland squad to reach the second stage of a major tournament.
Speaking at a plush Fort Lauderdale hotel overlooking the Straits of Florida, Clarke thanked his employers for going the extra mile with the preparations. The Scots move on to New Jersey tomorrow then fly to their main training base at Charlotte FC after the weekend game with Bolivia.
“The SFA have given us everything we’ve asked for,” he said. “But one of the conditions to use Inter Miami’s training base was also to use this hotel.
“It probably cost us a little bit more than Ian [Maxwell, SFA chief executive] wanted to spend but they spent it. We have done something similar in Charlotte and we had to pay a little bit for that too. But it makes that one work so credit to the Scottish FA for doing the right things.”
Clarke also defended his decision to draft 19-year-old Manchester United midfielder Tyler Fletcher into his squad as a late replacement for the injured Billy Gilmour.
Lennon Miller of Udinese, Rangers’ Connor Barron and Andrew Irving of Sparta Prague were on standby as potential replacements.
An impressive second-half debutant in the 4-1 win over Curacao, Fletcher – son of former Scotland captain Darren – was picked despite raised eyebrows over the exclusion of Serie A midfielder Miller.
“I’m comfortable with the decision I made,” said Clarke. “But there was a lot of thinking to do. I didn’t sleep much on Saturday night. There was a lot of thinking around the three boys who I had on stand-by. Three really good boys who had been part of the squad before.
“But then you look at young Tyler who had come into the squad and trained really well. In the lead up to the game all the coaching staff were really impressed.
“I think you saw a little snippet from him in the second half on the pitch. To move him above the other three was difficult. But, after 62 years and a long time in the game, I have to trust my judgement. And at this moment in time I just felt that Tyler had shown in that camp that he can be a big player for now and a big player for the future.”
