It was a beautiful, sunny day for futbol in South Florida.
Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami owners Jorge Mas and David Beckham arrived at Central Broward Park on Sunday morning ready to watch a series of games put on by the Club’s inaugural Development Academy class.
It was the first time Inter Miami has held a soccer event of any kind with its own players and fans–the family and friends who proudly supported the boys in pink from the stadium stands.
“One of the unique things I think we bring as Inter Miami, and MLS as a League, is this. It’s bringing young boys we see here (today) really from the ages of 11 to 19 to be part of our Academy and hopefully feeding our USL and First Team to be able to develop Homegrown talent,” said Mas in an interview setup with South Florida media inside the facilities of the stadium. “It’s all about outreach to the community and giving the soccer clubs and young men in Miami an opportunity to do things the right way.”
The players, who were selected from a pool of 6,000 South Florida soccer players, were invited to a day of scrimmages at the personal request of Mas and Beckham.
The two spent the majority of the six-hour day watching four main matches on the sidelines between the U-19s and U-17s, U-15s and U14s and U-13s and U-12s and a full U-12s competition.
All players were personally greeted by our owners on the pitch.
After six years of planning and waiting to bring MLS to South Florida, Mas and Beckham expressed pride in Inter Miami’s efforts in developing both a professional First Team and a youth academy. Sunday’s Academy event is evidence of the Club’s progress in its goal.
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Beckham said he had “no idea” how difficult it would be to start his team.
“I honestly thought I’d announce a team and we’d be up and playing in a year,” Beckham said. “Not because of who I am, just because I felt there had been such a movement in this country, in MLS, for this sport that I just assumed it would be pretty easy to start a team. But there were mistakes made over those six years and not being a local, it’s like someone coming into London and saying, `Oh, there’s a nice piece of land next to Buckingham Palace, we’ll just build a stadium there.’ So, I can understand the people’s frustrations. But we’re in such a good place now, such a strong position to give these kids a real opportunity.”
Having grown up in the Manchester United Academy, the development of local players is extremely important to Englishman.
“I was brought up through an academy at a young age,” Beckham said. “These kids are just starting to experience that. So, I’m excited about it.”
When asked if he would consider coming out of retirement, Beckham smiled as he expressed his desire to keep playing the sport he loves.
“Can I still play? Yeah, maybe I can still play,” Beckham said. “I miss it every single day. I don’t think you can play the sport you loved for as many years I played and not miss it, even at my age. When I’m out on the pitch and I play a good ball, I’m like, `Maybe I should play again.’ So, I do go through those moments. I think it’s out of the question. But we’ll see how the signings go. If we’re struggling, you never know.”
After knocking out many obstacles, soccer was finally played. and goals were scored on a field. Sunday’s event is another step forward for Inter Miami’s 6-year trek.
