Phil Neville just missed out on the chance to coach Lionel Messi, but he at least landed at his next job quickly.
Just a week after he was sacked as Inter Miami head coach, Neville was hired as an assistant for the Canadian men’s national team. The former England international will join Canada’s staff immediately and will be on the bench for next week’s CONCACAF Nations League semifinal against Panama.
Along with Neville, Canada also added ex-Premier League defender Richard Shaw as an assistant.
“Both Phil and Richard bring with them winning experiences at the highest levels and have worked with some of the Premier League’s top managers during their careers,” Canada head coach John Herdman said in a Canada Soccer release. “They’ll work as positional and unit coaches with the aim of helping us to win our first trophy in over two decades.”
Neville’s first full-time head coaching role came with the England women’s national team, which he guided to a fourth-place finish at the 2019 World Cup. He would then spend two and a half seasons with Inter Miami, missing the postseason in 2021 before making the playoffs last year.
The former Manchester United and Everton defender was fired on Thursday with the club sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Neville will be replaced on an interim basis by Javier Morales, the former Real Salt Lake star. Morales, 43, joined Neville’s coaching staff after several years coaching in Miami’s youth academy.
“This was a difficult decision but one we feel is the best for the club at this moment,” said Chris Henderson, the club’s chief soccer officer and sporting director, in a team statement. “Phil and I started together in 2021 and since then I saw firsthand the hard work, strong foundation and culture he has helped instill at Inter Miami…We’re excited about this opportunity for Javi and look forward to continuing to see his growth at Inter Miami.”
A downward turn in 2023
Miami managed to sneak into the playoffs in 2022, with Neville’s decision to bench star forward Gonzalo Higuaín widely credited for being a major factor. However, rather than progressing from there, things have largely unraveled for the club.
After beginning the season with two wins, the Herons went on a six-game losing streak that was only ended by squeaking past USL Championship side Miami FC on penalties in the U.S. Open Cup.
Miami would go on to win their next four games in all competitions, but the turnaround was short-lived. The Herons have lost four straight in MLS play, with their only recent success coming via the Open Cup (in which they’ve advanced to the quarterfinals).
As a result of their rollercoaster of a season involving more downs than ups, Miami is in 15th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference. In the overall MLS standings, only the LA Galaxy — who just fired team president Chris Klein while in the midst of their own catastrophic season — and Colorado Rapids have fewer points than Miami’s meager haul of 15.
Home fans booed Harvey Neville every time he touched the ball
Phil Neville understands why Inter Miami fans are starting to turn on him, but he is drawing a line when it comes to his son.
There was plenty of discontent at DRV PNK Stadium on Wednesday night, as Inter Miami lost 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls. It was the fourth loss in a row for Inter and saw the club remain in last place in the Eastern Conference.
A “Neville Out” banner was spotted in the crowd as fans aired their desire to see the coach leave. The ire was also directed at Harvey Neville, who was subbed into the match in the 90th minute and was booed every time he touched the ball.
That did not sit well with Phil Neville, who urged his team’s fans to save their booing for him.
“I understand their frustrations,” Neville said in his post-game press conference. “I understand the banners and all that business because it comes with the territory of being a professional football manager.”
Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
“I was incredibly, incredibly proud of the young boy that they were booing,” Neville added, referring to his 20-year-old son. “I think he showed great courage. And it hurts. But I understand and I think he understands.”
Asked if he had a message for the fans, the manager responded: “Please, just come for me … Don’t kill one of our own, don’t dump one of our own. Just come for me.”
“Don’t go for one of my boys, don’t go for one of my young kids because that hurts, that’s personal,” the manager added.
Inter Miami right back DeAndre Yedlin echoed his coach’s sentiments, saying it wasn’t fair for fans to target just one player.
“If you’re gonna boo him, then boo all of us,” the USMNT defender said. “We understand their frustrations but I don’t think it’s right to go after one player, especially a young player.”
It’s be a real shame if Busquets chose to play somewhere else
Sergio Busquets has a decision to make, and Phil Neville just wants what’s best for him.
The Inter Miami head coach would never dream of forcing Busquets to choose his club over suitors in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. He just thinks it would be a real shame if the Barcelona legend ended up somewhere else.
“He’s got a big decision to make, and we hope he makes the right decision,” Neville said in quotes published by the Miami Herald.
Busquets announced Wednesday that he would leave Barça at the end of this season. While Neville didn’t outright say that Miami is his definition of the right decision, it’s safe to say he’d like to have one of the all-time great defensive midfielders wearing pink and black in the near future.
“The most impressive thing is when people talk about the great players, No. 6s, people automatically think of Sergio Busquets,” added Neville. “He’s obviously had a brilliant career at Barcelona and leaving will be the hardest thing he’s ever had to do, to leave the club he’s been at all his life. I’ve witnessed that.”
Neville’s playing career saw him spend 15 years with Manchester United, starting as a 13-year-old in their academy, before moving on to Everton for the final eight seasons of his career.
What makes Busquets right for Miami
For Miami, the allure of Busquets is clear. On the field, the club lost defensive midfielder Gregore to a season-ending foot injury in their third game of the season. They’ve had to lean on Jean Mota, who tends to prefer to play a bit higher up the field, and the Brazilian was just diagnosed with a knee injury that will keep him out for four to six months. On top of that, the Herons currently sit outside the playoff places in the Eastern Conference.
Off the field, signing him would add a star player on a team that hasn’t had a bigger global name since Gonzalo Higuain retired this winter. Any team could use that kind of attendance boost, but Miami seems like a market that responds to star power more than most.
However, Busquets’ decision will be complicated. Per The Athletic, the 34-year-old has an offer in hand from a club in Saudi Arabia, while plenty of other suitors would love to have a player of his profile inking a contract.
For Neville at least, there’s just a clearly correct choice among them.
It’s easy to win at soccer, just kick the ball very hard
Inter Miami showed MLS teams the way forward against the nightmare that is the Philadelphia Union.
The high-pressing juggernauts are widely favored to push for another MLS Cup appearance this season at the least, and have been generally miserable to play against. How did Miami solve the puzzle?
Easy: just kick the ball hard, and into the dang goal.
Inter Miami beat the Union 2-0 at DRV PNK Stadium Saturday night, and it a victory built on the foundation of bangers. First, after Philadelphia had crowded Rodolfo Pizarro enough to cause the Mexican international to lose possession, Corentin Jean — a high-profile signing late last season who never got on track for the Herons — uncorked a surgical strike from around 28 yards out to give his side a 32nd minute lead.
See? Soccer is simple: Jean collected the ball, looked up to see where the goal was in relation to him, and then kicked that ball very hard at the goal.
Miami’s one-goal edge was always something of a worry against a team as prolific as the Union were in 2023, so in the second half, Phil Neville’s men decided to give the tried-and-true recipe of just scoring golazos another whirl.
Robert Taylor, who had replaced Jean literally seconds before scoring, came in off the left wing to play a give-and-go with Jean Mota. Mota’s scooped return pass required some work from Taylor to bring the ball down, but once again the choice from that point was clear: locate the goal and kick the ball at it with as much power as possible.
The vicious, arcing shot left even a goalkeeper as good as Andre Blake clawing at the air. Given the power Taylor put behind it, maybe that was for the best.
“The two goals that won the game were probably two goals to win any game of football,” said Miami head coach Phil Neville during his post-match press conference. “I thought [Taylor’s goal] was our one bit of quality in the second half. I thought Coco [Jean]’s goal — and Coco’s performance — was really good.”
Unfortunately for the Union, teams unfamiliar with the “kick the ball hard, and at the goal” tactic will have some tape to study. On the plus side for them, at least they won’t see many more goals that are better than the two Miami struck Saturday night.
The Inter Miami coach bemoaned the logistical headache his organization was facing
Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville can’t quite comprehend how, five days before kickoff, his side’s playoff match against New York City FC doesn’t yet have a set location.
The two teams will square off on Monday in a game that is currently scheduled for Red Bull Arena, with NYCFC’s usual home of Yankee Stadium unavailable due to the Yankees’ MLB playoff run.
But when the New York Mets were eliminated from the MLB playoffs on Sunday, suddenly their home of Citi Field became available. Though it’s a baseball stadium, Citi Field does offer the distinct advantage of being located within New York City and, crucially, it’s not the home stadium of NYCFC’s biggest rivals.
An email from NYCFC to season ticket holders on Tuesday purportedly said the game was being moved to Citi Field but as of his press conference on Wednesday, Neville was not aware of any official change.
“I got an email yesterday saying the game was at Red Bull [Arena],” he said. “That was from our official match email that we get every week.”
Neville said the location of the game didn’t matter much to him (“we’d play at the top of the Empire State Building in a playoff game,” he quipped), but the uncertainty was presenting a major logistical headache for the Inter Miami organization and the team’s fans.
“What people probably don’t understand is that we’ve got a traveling party of probably 55 people to get hotel rooms in New York [for] — 55 people with three days to go is near impossible.
“It’s just the logistics, the inconvenience for supporters and for families that have already bought tickets at the stadium. They’re probably staying in hotels out in New Jersey, in Harrison. I suppose that’s the biggest gripe is that we cannot book a hotel or travel yet, and we cannot let, more importantly, our supporters know where the game is.”
Neville ended with a challenge to the league and the larger organizational apparatus in a country that is getting set to co-host World Cup 2026.
“It’s not a preseason scrimmage, this is a playoff game,” Neville said. “In four years time we’ve got a World Cup coming to this great country. And I think things like this need to be looked at because this is organization — it has nothing to do with football.”
“I think it’s the worst word in the world,” said Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville
Inter Miami’s 3-2 road win over D.C. United may have been dramatic, but it was completely overshadowed by allegations of racism during the match.
Following the game, Miami defender DeAndre Yedlin and head coach Phil Neville both told reporters that, following a scuffle between their teammate Damion Lowe and United’s Taxiarchis Fountas, the D.C. forward aimed a racial slur at Lowe.
“Unfortunately, it makes a really nice moment for us kind of dark,” Yedlin told reporters after the match. “We continued the game and came out with a win, but the end of the day, like I said, it doesn’t even feel like like a win, just because of that incredibly dark moment.”
“It was a racist comment that’s unacceptable. A word was used that I think is unacceptable in society,” said Neville. “I think it’s the worst word in the world.”
According to Yedlin, Fountas used the slur while walking away from Lowe after a dispute, and within earshot of Miami’s Aimé Mabika. Both Lowe and Mabika are Black.
“Basically, Damion and their player got into a little bit of a scuffle. As Damion was walking away, their guy called him the N-word,” said Yedlin. “M.A. (Mabika) reacted, and M.A. is one of the nicest guys so, when you see him react in the way that he did, you know it’s probably something pretty serious. It’s something that hit him pretty hard. And as soon as I heard what he said, I got pretty emotional as well.”
Yedlin and Neville both said that Miami’s players were prepared to walk off and abandon the match if Fountas was allowed to carry on playing.
“[I] spoke with Phil a little bit, and we made the decision that we’re not going to continue until something was done with that player, and if nothing was done, then we weren’t going to continue,” explained Yedlin. “I think Phil spoke with the opposing coach, [and] they decided to take the player off.”
The incident happened in the 61st minute, and initially saw both Fountas and Lowe booked. A lengthy stoppage followed, with referee Ismail Elfath speaking to both Neville and United head coach Wayne Rooney on two separate occasions. Elfath also summoned the MLS match observer for a discussion, and Fountas was substituted by United almost immediately after play resumed. Rooney then pulled the Designated Player aside for a discussion as play continued.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
“I would have given up the result to make a stand, and when it happened, it was a big moment,” said Neville. “[Rooney] asked me [what happened], I spoke to him, we spoke to the referee. Obviously there was players in our team that were very emotional, which you would be, and I never wanted to be one of those coaches that just ignored a real serious issue. And I’m proud of the players in the way that they they grouped together, and proud of the way that we grouped together and made a stand. And I’m proud of the way that D.C. handled the situation as well.”
When asked to explain what had gone on from his perspective, Rooney said: “There was a complaint, which I’m sure will get investigated. So, not really much more I can say.”
Neville said that he had spoken to an unnamed member of United’s ownership group, and that “they 100% agree that there’s no way in the world any form of racism should be happening.”
MLS confirmed to The Athletic that an investigation would be forthcoming:
.@MLS offers me this statement on allegations that DC’s Taxi Fountas used a racial slur at an Inter Miami player tonight: pic.twitter.com/2JC3dSjV8R
Yedlin said that he will be paying close attention to how both MLS and D.C. United handle the incident.
“We’ll see what the MLS does about it. You know, my eyes will be on that a lot, to see what kind of action they take, because it’s now up to them to take action and make a stand, and show that this not only has no place in in the game, but no place in society,” said Yedlin.
“Obviously you’d like to see a … multiple game suspension. It’ll be interesting to see what D.C. United does as a club. Again, there’s just no place for it in society. It’s one of those things that it’s kind of it’s kind of hard to wrap your head around, that that sort of stuff is still said here in 2022.”
An interesting assessment for a team that reached the MLS playoffs play-in round in 2020
Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville has said next week’s friendly against Barcelona is the biggest match in his club’s history.
Barcelona will kick off its preseason tour of the U.S. on Tuesday at DRV PNK Stadium, with the MLS club saying the game is expected to break its attendance record.
“My team and myself think it’s the biggest match in the club’s history,” Neville said at a press conference on Friday. “First time this stadium has ever been sold out for an Inter Miami game.”
Neville will see his team face Charlotte FC on Saturday as it aims to manage two matches in a three-day span. The ex-England international said that all of his players are raring to go for both games, despite the short rest.
“I’d say categorically that every single player will want to play in that game,” Neville said of the Barcelona match. “Somebody said the other night about tiredness and I gave a little speech to the team about the best players in the world don’t get tired. The best players in the world play every single minute of every single game. And why do they do that? Because they do everything right. They do everything right in their lives to make sure that they can perform on a Tuesday and a Saturday and a Tuesday and a Saturday.”
Inter Miami joined MLS in 2020 and is currently in its third season in the league. The club reached the play-in round of the playoffs in 2020 under previous coach Diego Alonso, losing 3-0 to Nashville SC.
Last season under Neville, Inter failed to reach the postseason.
