Inter Miami CF left Toronto with all three points on Saturday after a lively 4-2 victory over Toronto FC at BMO Field, turning a tight Major League Soccer fixture into a second-half showcase of cutting edge finishing before surviving a late push from the home side.
The visitors were good value for the result over long stretches, controlling 59.9 percent of possession and putting seven shots on target. Yet this was not a completely comfortable afternoon by full time, because Toronto found life late on through substitute Emilio Aristizábal and made the final minutes far more nervy than Inter Miami would have wanted.
For much of the opening half, Toronto stayed in the contest and looked capable of frustrating Inter Miami’s rhythm. The home side produced 13 total shots across the match and asked some questions in transition, but Inter Miami’s quality in the decisive moments ultimately made the difference.
The breakthrough arrived just before the interval. Rodrigo De Paul opened the scoring in the 44th minute, giving Inter Miami CF a deserved 1-0 lead heading into halftime and quieting the BMO Field crowd.
That advantage doubled in the 56th minute when Luis Suárez found the net, finishing off another dangerous Inter Miami move to put Toronto under real pressure. Suárez later went into the book in the 61st minute, but by then the visitors had already seized control of the fixture.
If there was any remaining doubt about the outcome, Inter Miami appeared to settle it with a devastating burst in the final quarter of the match. Sergio Reguilón made it 3-0 in the 73rd minute, arriving with perfect timing to extend the lead, and just two minutes later Lionel Messi added a fourth in the 75th minute to cap Inter Miami’s most ruthless spell of the afternoon.
At 4-0, it looked done and dusted. But Toronto FC deserve credit for refusing to let the contest drift away entirely. Emilio Aristizábal pulled one back in the 82nd minute, injecting some energy into the home side and giving the supporters something to rally around. Then, in the 90th minute, Aristizábal struck again with a header, trimming the deficit to 4-2 and at least giving the final scoreline a more competitive feel.
In the end, though, Toronto had left themselves too much to do. Inter Miami’s four-goal haul was built on efficiency as much as control, with four different scorers underlining the variety in their attack. De Paul’s opener at 44′, Suárez’s goal at 56′, Reguilón’s strike at 73′, and Messi’s finish at 75′ gave the visitors a cushion that Toronto’s late rally could not erase, despite Aristizábal’s goals at 82′ and 90′.
There were a few other notable moments in a match played with bite as well as quality. Raheem Edwards was booked for Toronto in the 51st minute, while Inter Miami saw Suárez cautioned in the 61st and Dániel Pintér in the 89th as tempers and urgency rose in the second half.
For Inter Miami CF, this was another encouraging away performance and another reminder of the firepower available to their manager. For Toronto FC, the late response from Aristizábal offered a positive note, but defensive lapses and a costly spell after halftime proved too damaging to overcome.
Final score: Toronto FC 2-4 Inter Miami CF.
Goal scorers: Rodrigo De Paul 44′, Luis Suárez 56′, Sergio Reguilón 73′, Lionel Messi 75′ (Inter Miami CF); Emilio Aristizábal 82′, 90′ (Toronto FC).
