This is Part 4 of 90min’s Smart Choices award series presented by Continental Tires. Check back each day for new awards.
Inter Miami head coach Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino led his side to the greatest regular season in Major League Soccer history and is thus the 2024 MLS Manager of the Year.
The 74 points collected from 34 matches are the most ever by an MLS team, surpassing New England Revolution’s 73 points in 2021. Martino also made history by lifting his second trophy as Miami boss in the 2024 Supporters’ Shield after his Leagues Cup triumph in Aug. 2023.
While Martino is working with the most talented and deep squad in MLS, he still had to manage everyone’s minutes along the way and work with several long-term injuries to key players to keep Miami atop the standings.
Martino was already one of best head coaches to manage in MLS after his incredible two-year stint with Atlanta United during the club’s first two seasons as an expansion side in 2017 and 2018. After lifting the 2018 MLS Cup title with Atlanta, Martino returned to the North American league five years later in search of more glory with Miami.
So far, he’s delivered two trophies to Miami and is on course to deliver a third in MLS Cup later this year. But it hasn’t been without difficulties and players unavailable for a multitude of reasons.
Of course, any manager can rack up wins with Lionel Messi in their squad. However, Martino can’t just play him every single match given that he’s 37-years-old and is more susceptible to injuries in the twilight of his career. The same can be said for Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Luis Suárez, who all wish to play every single match possible.
That’s where Martino steps in. If he allowed his former Barcelona players to play as many minutes as possible, Miami wouldn’t have won the Supporters’ Shield or broken the single-season points record. Martino has proven to be a great manager at the club level that knows when to rest players to get the very best out of them.
Along with managing his star players’ minutes Martino has also had to keep his squad players happy and feeling included in the team. This goes for players such as Leo Campana, Noah Allen, David Ruiz, Franco Negri and Robert Taylor, who have all played a key role in Miami’s success in 2024.
The long-term injuries to Nicolás Freire and Facundo Farías presented problems for Martino’s squad, but he still managed to find a way around it to keep Miami atop the table. Earlier in the season, Martino was extremely short on center-backs. So, he improvised by playing Busquets in the backline—which has worked out pretty well given his elite passing range that helps build up from the back.
Martino usually goes with his 4-3-3 system for matches but has shown tactical flexibility given on the opponent and the venue. At home, the 4-3-3 setup is usually a given but on the road he sometimes rolls with a 3-4-3 formation to be a little more secure at the back.
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