Santiago Morales was the big winner for Inter Miami last weekend in Javier Mascherano’s first game in charge of the Herons.
The USA youth international came on to score the winning penalty against Club America as Morales won praise from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez after his shoot-out heroics, with the teenager looking primed to breakout this year in the first-team.
With Morales revealing he’s getting advice from Messi in training, the 17-year-old midfielder is well on course to join the likes of Benjamin Cremaschie in being promoted from the Inter Miami acadamey and into the senior roster.
And Morales has shared what Mascherano told him before coming on to make his unofficial debut for Inter Miami.
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Morales told to remain ‘structured’ on Inter Miami debut
Speaking to reporters at this weeks’ open training session, the Inter Miami teenager shared how Mascherano told Morales to remain organized and to keep things tidy in the midfield in the final moments of the match in Las Vegas.
Morales said: “What Masche told me before coming on were a couple of tactical things about how to organize myself in the game so that the team is well structured there. Both Masche and Leo congratulated me for the penalty, the truth is that we were happy.”
With Messi making headlines against Club America for all the wrong reasons, Morales’ debut and winning penalty were a notable high point for Inter Miami, who got off to pre-season with an ideal result and performance.
And heading into upcoming games this winter, Morales will be keen to make an even bigger impact in Inter Miami’s first-team, with Mascherano seemingly keen to give the 17-year-old midfielder more minutes and to get the youngster as ready as possible for the new season.
Morales will be licking his lips at Inter Miami’s pre-season schedule
Inter Miami, thankfully, learnt from their mistakes last year’s pre-season tour, with the Florida franchise staying in the Americas and only travelling as far south as Lima to take on Peruvian side Universitario de Deportes.
| Date | Opponent | Location |
| January 30th | Universitario de Deportes | Lima, Peru |
| February 2nd | Sporting San Miguelito | Panama City, Panama |
| February 8th | Club Deportivo Olimpia | San Pedro Sula, Honduras |
| February 14th | Orlando City SC | Tampa, Florida, USA |
And for Morales, the teenage prospect will be licking his lips at his chances of getting minutes this pre-season, with Inter Miami facing sides that are both on their level and also below what the Herons faced last year.
Indeed, Morales will want to make a real impact in upcoming games under Mascherano, who will be naturally keen to bring in academy players having worked with Argentina’s youth teams in the last four years.