Kily Gonzalez to make Inter Miami coaching debut vs. Cruz Azul in Campeones Cup

The Kily Gonzalez era officially began Tuesday as Inter Miami’s new coach finally received his work visa and joined the team, 19 days after being hired to replace interim coach Guillermo Hoyos.

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He directed his first training session Tuesday morning, with club co-owner David Beckham looking on, and then addressed the media for the first time. He discussed his close relationship with Lionel Messi, his impressions of his new team and of Miami.

Gonzalez, who signed a contract through June 2028, arrived just in time to energize the slumping team and make his debut against Mexican club Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup Wednesday night at Nu Stadium (8 p.m., Apple TV).

Inter Miami has won just one of the past nine games and takes a midweek break from the MLS season to play in the winner-take-all Campeones match, which pits the reigning MLS Cup champion against the Liga MX Campeon de Campeones winner.

“It has been a very anxious time [since I took the job] because for two and a half weeks I couldn’t be here, but it is a job I couldn’t even have dreamed of,” Gonzalez said. “The club asked me if I’m ready to be on the sideline [Wednesday], and I said I was. Getting here and being able to train the players made me very happy and gave me more energy to be out there.”

Gonzalez, Inter Miami’s sixth coach in seven seasons, is from Messi’s hometown of Rosario, Argentina, and has deep ties with Messi. In 2005, Gonzalez, now 52, was on Argentina’s team when Messi was sent off with a red card 47 seconds into his national team debut against Hungary. Messi was 18 at the time, and devastated. It was Gonzalez who consoled him, assuring him everything would be fine and that he had a long career ahead of him.

Seventeen years later, after Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Gonzalez was on the ground waiting for Messi when he arrived back to Rosario in a helicopter. Their hug went viral on social media.

“There are things that happen in football that have no words,” Gonzalez said. “I feel privileged and blessed to have this opportunity, to have the fantastic relationship I have with Leo. I adore him. He knows it. That makes this moment more special. The chance to be with him, and with the other big players on this team, as a coach I feel fulfilled. Now, we must work hard and hopefully, have a good start and win on Wednesday.”

Miami is a city Gonzalez and his family have enjoyed visiting, he said, and he feels at home in South Florida because there are so many Argentine people who bring that passion for soccer to Nu Stadium.

Forward Luis Suarez said Gonzalez’s energy was palpable during their first training session, and he feels that is what the team needed.

“We are treating this game tomorrow like a final, we’re coming off a stretch where we haven’t won many games, and the best scenario for us is to face a game like this with a new coach who comes with positive energy and enthusiasm,” Suarez said. “That transfers to the players.”

Suarez said when he heard Gonzalez was hired, he began doing research, reaching out to former players who knew him.

“Everyone spoke well of him, he’s very professional and emotional and he showed that in his first meeting with the team,” Suarez said. “He wants us to have passion and commitment, and he went over specific tactical issues we need to correct.”

Asked how the team will look different under Gonzalez, Suarez said: “Whenever a new coach comes, the level goes up because all the players are starting from zero, and the 11 who start want to prove themselves as much the ones waiting on the bench. We have to play like this is a final, on our home field, with a new coach. There is not greater gift to send off Guillermo and his staff than a victory and also no better way to welcome the new coaches.”

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Suarez made a point to thank Hoyos and his staff for the work they put in since taking over in April when former coach Javier Mascherano and his assistants unexpectedly stepped down four months after leading Inter Miami to its first MLS Cup title.

He added that he tries to ignore critics in the stands and on social media, who have been down on the team in recent weeks.

“Social media can be destructive,” Suarez said. “If we lose the game [Wednesday], they’ll say, `Ah, another final that Messi, Suarez and [Rodrigo] De Paul lost, another Inter Miami loss with such big players’. If we win, they’ll say `Ah, that Cup doesn’t mean anything.’ It’s the same when you score three goals, they say, `Ah, it’s easy to score three goals in MLS.’ If you don’t score two games in a row, `Oh, this player’s a disaster.’ The critics sell more headlines.”

Cruz Azul enters the game on a high after beating Club América in the Liga MX Clásica Joven in a 4-3 match over the weekend. The Mexico City club has scored three or more goals in three of its last four games away from home.

Inter Miami, meanwhile, is looking to right the ship under its new coach after struggling to close out recent matches. Miami has failed to win five of their last six games when leading in the second half.

Gonzalez addressed the team’s defensive lapses and said he has been studying the team since he took the job.

“We have to defend better than what we’re doing,” he said. “We have to be more compact and much more aggressive. In general, I’ve noticed that the MLS games feature a lot of transition and a lot of goals, and that is something we need to defend better. We have to be more organized, while not giving up our identity as an attacking team.”

The team has also struggled against Mexican competition, losing two of three Leagues Cup matches at home over the summer. Miami beat San Luis 4-2 in their Leagues Cup opener, but then lost 2-1 to Monterrey and 3-2 to Leon.

Inter Miami played against Cruz Azul in the summer of 2023, in Messi’s first match for the club. It proved to be not only historic but dramatic, as Messi scored the game-winning goal on a free kick in stoppage time.

Liga MX has won the Campeones Cup four times and MLS has won three.

Retired former Inter Miami goalkeeper Luis Robles, now the vice president of MLS Next, is an ambassador for the Campeones Cup. He said Inter Miami hosting Wednesday’s match is the latest example of how Beckham and club co-owners Jorge and Jose Mas have fulfilled their promises of elevating the league.

“This is a moment for us to appreciate the vision of the Mas brothers and David Beckham, when back in 2018 at a town hall meeting were talking about what this could be,” Robles said. “They said they’d bring the best players in the world and they’d play right here, in the heart of Miami.

“Fast forward to 2026, Messi and other top players came, they are defending MLS champions, and the club’s impact has been seismic for the league. And for them to be playing Cruz Azul, the same team Messi played in his debut, it’s a full-circle moment.”

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