Foreign Exchange: Three questions with the Miami Herald's Michelle Kaufman
For this Foreign Exchange, we turned to a reporter who has covered Miami soccer for three decades. Buckle in for a history lesson about the significance of Nu Stadium.
It's not the first time Austin FC's played Inter Miami CF, but it might be the most consequential.
And in a Foreign Exchange befitting Saturday's match (now starting at 7 pm CT, according to Inter Miami), which will be the inaugural one in Miami's new Nu Stadium (and there's a reason it's called that, which we'll get into momentarily), we reached out to the dean of Miami soccer journalists, Michelle Kaufman.
She has been covering Miami soccer since the days when the Miami Fusion played in Lockhart Stadium, after they couldn't come to terms to play in the Orange Bowl. (Long story that's in my book, but we'll get into that here as well.)
Also, I asked three questions and not a single one involved Lionel Messi! (Overtly, at least.)
To the questions!
Germán Berterame appeared a key offseason addition for Inter Miami, but he's yet to register a regular-season goal. How has he fared on the field so far, and are there indications in his play that goals are coming?
Berterame arrived with fanfare after his $15 million transfer from Monterrey. Seems he was going to be the eventual replacement for 39-year-old Luis Suarez, who had an exceptional 2024 season but in 2025 was not as productive and was relegated to the bench for the playoffs, in favor of 20-year-old Argentine Mateo Silvetti.
Miami's offense was explosive during the playoffs (MLS record 20 goals) with Messi, Silvetti and Tadeo Allende, who scored an MLS playoff record 9 goals during their run to the MLS Cup title.
Everything in the Miami attack revolves around Messi and who links up well with him, who he trusts, who knows how to deliver him the ball ... Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were critical to that dynamic, they had all played together at Barcelona and had telepathy on the field. But Busi and Jordi are retired now, so Inter Miami's midfielders and attackers are learning to play without those two legends. It has been a transition period and Berterame is new to the whole equation, so it has taken him some time to get comfortable in the role.
He showed signs of finding his groove in the last league game, a road win over NYCFC, and even appeared to score a goal, but it was nullified for offisde. He should be motivated because he is trying to earn a spot and starting role on the Mexican World Cup team.
Dayne St. Clair is, on paper, a significant upgrade at goalkeeper from what the team had last year, but he let in three during the opener, and Miami only has a goal differential of +1 five matches in — how is he actually faring?
Signing St. Clair made perfect sense, as he was a free agent and Inter Miami was in need of a strong keeper, although backup Rocco Rios Novo stepped up as starter in the playoffs and did a fine job. Rocco was on loan, and it was unclear if he would be back. As it turns out, he is back, so now he and St. Clair are a strong duo and will keep each other sharp.
Like Berterame, St. Clair had an adjustment period at the start of the season, had some visa paperwork to get done, and was going from a very different style of team in Minnesota United to the style Inter Miami plays. Also, he doesn't speak Spanish (he planned to start taking Spanish classes), and Inter Miami is an almost entirely Spanish-speaking team, including the coaching staff. The training sessions and press conferences are conducted in Spanish.
A few weeks into the season, he said he was much more comfortable, communicating well with his new teammates and it showed. He made a couple of massive saves in each of the past few games. He is highly motivated to play well, as he battles for the starter role on the Canadian World Cup team.
How much of an event is this stadium opening for Miami? And how big of a deal is it to moving from the former Lockhart Stadium site to this more permanent and modern home?
How big a deal is Nu Stadium? (No, that is not a typo... Inter Miami's new stadium is called Nu Stadium, sponsored by Brazilian NuBank.) Not sure there are adequate words to explain the significance of this stadium, but I have been covering soccer in Miami for 30 years, so I will try ...
Finally, 12 years after David Beckham arrived on the shores of Biscayne Bay in a tailored suit and announced that he was bringing MLS back to Miami, after an odyssey rife with political battles and repeated roadblocks, after six years playing in a temporary stadium in Fort Lauderdale, the British icon’s vision will become reality.
It isn’t exactly the home Beckham originally envisioned. He dreamed of a waterfront stadium with picturesque views and tried to cut a deal for a site at the county-owned Port Miami. But that proposal got blocked, leading to several other failed proposals with various investor groups.
It wasn’t until Beckham partnered with Miami brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, principals of construction and infrastructure firm MasTec, that a viable stadium plan began to take shape.
Now, a little history lesson ...The Miami stadium saga began long before Beckham showed up. It dates back three decades. On July 8, 1997, in an 18th-floor ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City (I was there!!!), MLS launched the Miami Fusion, the first incarnation of a South Florida team. The club’s name and logo were revealed with much excitement — a futuristic blue and yellow oval with the word “Fusion” over a sunburst.
From the league’s inception in 1996 the intent was to have a Miami team become a bilingual global brand that would extend MLS tentacles into South and Central America. South Florida is home to hundreds of thousands of Latin American immigrants and they are passionate about soccer. The idea was to get those fans and also fans from their home nations to adopt the Miami team as their U.S. based team, watch games on TV, buy merchandise, and travel to Miami to see them play in person.
The plan was for the Fusion to begin play in March 1998 at the Orange Bowl but the club owner and local politicians clashed over the lease agreement, so the owner took the team to Fort Lauderdale and upgraded Lockhart Stadium, where they played until they folded in 2001.
Beckham and the Mas brothers wound up in a similar situation and ended up taking their team to those very Lockhart Stadium grounds... they knocked down Lockhart and built the temporary stadium they have been playing in the past six years.
Finally, the Miami MLS team will play in Miami! The Miami Fusion played in Fort Lauderdale. Inter Miami has been playing in Fort Lauderdale, and now will play in Miami. This is what MLS envisioned in 1996.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Austin FC fans learned who the team will play and where in two weeks, and then what the Round of 16 holds — either a trip to Houston or hosting a familiar Open Cup foe.
Austin FC will have a role to play in the opening of Inter Miami's spectacular stadium. As many as 500 Verde fans are expected to be witness to its first-ever kickoff.
Computers say that Austin FC will struggle to make the playoffs in 2026. Even with that, it shows places where the team can pick up crucial additional points throughout the season.
It's not the first time Austin FC's played Inter Miami CF, but it might be the most consequential.
And in a Foreign Exchange befitting Saturday's match (now starting at 7 pm CT, according to Inter Miami), which will be the inaugural one in Miami's new Nu Stadium (and there's a reason it's called that, which we'll get into momentarily), we reached out to the dean of Miami soccer journalists, Michelle Kaufman.
She has been covering Miami soccer since the days when the Miami Fusion played in Lockhart Stadium, after they couldn't come to terms to play in the Orange Bowl. (Long story that's in my book, but we'll get into that here as well.)
Also, I asked three questions and not a single one involved Lionel Messi! (Overtly, at least.)
To the questions!
Germán Berterame appeared a key offseason addition for Inter Miami, but he's yet to register a regular-season goal. How has he fared on the field so far, and are there indications in his play that goals are coming?
Berterame arrived with fanfare after his $15 million transfer from Monterrey. Seems he was going to be the eventual replacement for 39-year-old Luis Suarez, who had an exceptional 2024 season but in 2025 was not as productive and was relegated to the bench for the playoffs, in favor of 20-year-old Argentine Mateo Silvetti.
Miami's offense was explosive during the playoffs (MLS record 20 goals) with Messi, Silvetti and Tadeo Allende, who scored an MLS playoff record 9 goals during their run to the MLS Cup title.
Everything in the Miami attack revolves around Messi and who links up well with him, who he trusts, who knows how to deliver him the ball ... Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba were critical to that dynamic, they had all played together at Barcelona and had telepathy on the field. But Busi and Jordi are retired now, so Inter Miami's midfielders and attackers are learning to play without those two legends. It has been a transition period and Berterame is new to the whole equation, so it has taken him some time to get comfortable in the role.
He showed signs of finding his groove in the last league game, a road win over NYCFC, and even appeared to score a goal, but it was nullified for offisde. He should be motivated because he is trying to earn a spot and starting role on the Mexican World Cup team.
Dayne St. Clair is, on paper, a significant upgrade at goalkeeper from what the team had last year, but he let in three during the opener, and Miami only has a goal differential of +1 five matches in — how is he actually faring?
Signing St. Clair made perfect sense, as he was a free agent and Inter Miami was in need of a strong keeper, although backup Rocco Rios Novo stepped up as starter in the playoffs and did a fine job. Rocco was on loan, and it was unclear if he would be back. As it turns out, he is back, so now he and St. Clair are a strong duo and will keep each other sharp.
Like Berterame, St. Clair had an adjustment period at the start of the season, had some visa paperwork to get done, and was going from a very different style of team in Minnesota United to the style Inter Miami plays. Also, he doesn't speak Spanish (he planned to start taking Spanish classes), and Inter Miami is an almost entirely Spanish-speaking team, including the coaching staff. The training sessions and press conferences are conducted in Spanish.
A few weeks into the season, he said he was much more comfortable, communicating well with his new teammates and it showed. He made a couple of massive saves in each of the past few games. He is highly motivated to play well, as he battles for the starter role on the Canadian World Cup team.
How much of an event is this stadium opening for Miami? And how big of a deal is it to moving from the former Lockhart Stadium site to this more permanent and modern home?
How big a deal is Nu Stadium? (No, that is not a typo... Inter Miami's new stadium is called Nu Stadium, sponsored by Brazilian NuBank.) Not sure there are adequate words to explain the significance of this stadium, but I have been covering soccer in Miami for 30 years, so I will try ...
Finally, 12 years after David Beckham arrived on the shores of Biscayne Bay in a tailored suit and announced that he was bringing MLS back to Miami, after an odyssey rife with political battles and repeated roadblocks, after six years playing in a temporary stadium in Fort Lauderdale, the British icon’s vision will become reality.
It isn’t exactly the home Beckham originally envisioned. He dreamed of a waterfront stadium with picturesque views and tried to cut a deal for a site at the county-owned Port Miami. But that proposal got blocked, leading to several other failed proposals with various investor groups.
It wasn’t until Beckham partnered with Miami brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, principals of construction and infrastructure firm MasTec, that a viable stadium plan began to take shape.
Now, a little history lesson ...The Miami stadium saga began long before Beckham showed up. It dates back three decades. On July 8, 1997, in an 18th-floor ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City (I was there!!!), MLS launched the Miami Fusion, the first incarnation of a South Florida team. The club’s name and logo were revealed with much excitement — a futuristic blue and yellow oval with the word “Fusion” over a sunburst.
From the league’s inception in 1996 the intent was to have a Miami team become a bilingual global brand that would extend MLS tentacles into South and Central America. South Florida is home to hundreds of thousands of Latin American immigrants and they are passionate about soccer. The idea was to get those fans and also fans from their home nations to adopt the Miami team as their U.S. based team, watch games on TV, buy merchandise, and travel to Miami to see them play in person.
The plan was for the Fusion to begin play in March 1998 at the Orange Bowl but the club owner and local politicians clashed over the lease agreement, so the owner took the team to Fort Lauderdale and upgraded Lockhart Stadium, where they played until they folded in 2001.
Beckham and the Mas brothers wound up in a similar situation and ended up taking their team to those very Lockhart Stadium grounds... they knocked down Lockhart and built the temporary stadium they have been playing in the past six years.
Finally, the Miami MLS team will play in Miami! The Miami Fusion played in Fort Lauderdale. Inter Miami has been playing in Fort Lauderdale, and now will play in Miami. This is what MLS envisioned in 1996.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
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