The Away End | Inter Miami with Franco Panizo

New York City FC are on the road this weekend as they face Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. 

For this edition of 'The Away End' presented by Berkeley College & Rennert International, we spoke to reporter Franco Panizo, who covers the team and founded the Miami Total Futbol podcast.

Hi Franco, thanks for speaking with us. How long have you been covering soccer?  

Hello and thank you for having me on this week's edition of the Away End. 

I have been covering soccer since December 2008, while I was still attending Florida Atlantic University, actually. I reached out to illustrious reporter Ives Galarcep via email at the time asking for advice on a career working in the sport, and it just so happened that he was growing his website, SBI, at the time. He wound up bringing me on board, and mentored me both in terms of my writing and reporting.

Things just kind of snowballed. I landed a beat writing job with MLSsoccer.com a month after I graduated in 2011 and moved from South Florida to the northeast. Afterwards, I covered the league and sport more up close and personal, mostly in New York and New Jersey but also around the country and world. 

I eventually moved back to my hometown of South Florida in February 2020 just as Inter Miami was preparing to start its expansion season, and have created a multimedia outlet down here called Miami Total Futbol that has written, audio, and visual platforms with the most in-depth daily coverage of the team that I encourage everyone to check out.

What’s been your favorite moment covering soccer?  

There have been so many incredible moments covering soccer that it makes it very difficult to pick just one, to be honest. From spending 27 days in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup following the U.S. men's national team around to attending a World Cup Qualifier down in Costa Rica to having 1-on-1 interviews with legends like David Villa and Frank Lampard, I have been fortunate enough to live some pretty neat experiences in my career. 

If I had to choose just one, though, it would probably be working behind the scenes with Peru's national team during the Copa America Centenario in 2016. It was my first experience being on the inside, and it opened my eyes to a whole lot of things that I and possibly others on the media side do not take into account when providing our regular coverage. Being of Peruvian descent, it was also interesting to see more of the personalities of the players as well as all the different dynamics that go into making the teams that we see play in matches in person and on TV. 

Inter Miami hired a new coach in 2021, what have you made of Phil Neville's first season in charge so far? 

Well, Inter Miami just suffered a disappointing midweek loss to Atlanta United that has all but ruled them out of the playoffs, so just judging from a results standpoint this year has been massively disappointing for the ambitious South Florida side. 

Neville is in his first season as head coach of a men's team at the club level, and with inexperience comes growing pains. Neville has been no exception to that, especially in a league like MLS in which there are so many intricacies. There is no denying Neville knows a lot about the game after an accomplished career playing at the highest levels, but he has had his share of issues this year and I think the jury is rightly still out as to whether he is the right man for the job at Inter Miami.

The last time the two teams met it was NYCFC that emerged winners. What are your predictions for Saturday's game? 

Inter Miami will be at home and the atmosphere that La Familia (the collective name for all the supporters' groups) will create will surely be great as per usual, but New York City FC is in better form, a more cohesive team, and still playing for something other than pride. I expect Inter Miami to come out in an attacking posture to try and excite the local fans in the final game of the 2021 season at Drv Pnk Stadium, but I think NYCFC has the quality to overcome that in what should be a fun and thrilling match filled with goals. NYCFC 3, Inter Miami 2. 

If you were to identify Miami's dangerman, who would that be? 

Phil Neville said last weekend, "When Gonzalo (Higuain) plays well, the team plays well,' and I think that is 100 percent accurate. 

Higuain has shown over the course of the season, albeit not as consistently as the team would have liked, that he can make the difference with his skill with the ball. He is the team's top scorer (12 goals) this season by a significant margin, and also the leader in assists (9). He tends to struggle with the physical aspect of the league at times and is subpar in terms of pressing from the front, but when he is at his sharpest he can still take over a game be it with his lethal finishing or exquisite passing.

And finally, for anyone that may be in Miami for a game, are there any attractions you'd suggest they check out? 

I would say it just really depends on what kind of person you are and the types of things you like to do. South Florida has a laundry list of options when it comes to attractions, so you can just as easily go out to do some fun stuff during the day as you can enjoy the incredible nightlife. Both if you have the energy.

Of course, a nice relaxing day at the beach is a safe bet, but if you want a little more action then you can check out the relatively new guitar hotel at the lively Seminole Hard Rock Casino, the restaurants and bars at Wynwood, and the abundance of entertainment options in the downtown Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and Hollywood areas.