Taylor Twellman joined the crew at Extratime on Thursday to discuss the state of MLS, and weighed in on his thoughts on Inter Miami CF after calling their inaugural game on ESPN against LAFC last Sunday.
This much appears clear: Twellman thinks two more big signings are coming soon. And when they arrive, Miami won't be expected to merely just make the playoffs in their inaugural season.
"It’s not Neymar, it’s not Messi, it’s not Ronaldo, it’s not Griezmann, but in the world of Major League Soccer and the amount of money spent, they’re going to make two signings by May 1st, maybe June 1st, maybe a little bit later," Twellman said. "That’s going to change the complete complexion around the team. And then all of the sudden you guys and I are going to be doing this interview in the summer and we’re going to say wait a minute, Miami better be in the top two or three seeds in the East then."
Miami performed admirably in their opening match despite losing 1-0 in a relatively even game decided by an individual moment of brilliance from reigning MVP Carlos Vela.
However, Twellman believes the bar is going to very quickly be set higher than simply "holding their own" as they move on from their match against the defending Supporters' Shield holders to games against Eastern Conference foes they expect to be fighting for playoff positioning. That begins in Saturday's visit to Audi Field to face D.C. United (3:30 pm ET | Univision, Twitter, MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada), where coach Diego Alonso will be looking for an improved performance and result.
"He said he needs six games to assess his team," Twellman said of Alonso. "Now listen, part of me understands that. As an ex-player, preseason is short, I get all that. Diego is trying to figure out what works in MLS, what doesn’t. But I’m not sure he’s got six games to get his first win. I’m not totally sure he’s got six games to dominate a game either. So it’s going to be very interesting how they play at D.C. but more importantly that home opener (the following week). They need to put on a show."
