Coach Tata Martino left Messi and Suarez on the bench, after they played brilliantly in the 3-2 win over Columbus Crew to win the Supporters’ Shield on October 3.
Instead, Inter Miami fielded a lineup with many substitutes such as Campana, Robert Taylor, Matias Rojas in attack. Busquets and Jordi Alba were also on the bench.
With a weak squad, Inter Miami played disjointedly, and struggled to control the game on the admittedly poor BMO Field in Canada. While Toronto FC tried to win to find a chance to secure a playoff spot, they also lacked creativity in the opponent’s final third to convert chances into goals.
The match only became exciting in the second half, when coach Tata Martino sent Messi and Suarez onto the field with Busquets, helping Inter Miami regain control of the game and play differently from their opponents.
The class of these top players helped Inter Miami completely control the match. However, it was not until the extra minutes from Suarez’s pass on the left wing that Campana had a neat control of the ball in the penalty area and dived to volley home a beautiful goal to help Inter Miami win 1-0.
This is Inter Miami’s 10th consecutive unbeaten match, including 7 wins and 3 draws, helping them, after winning the Supporters’ Shield, only 1 win away from the MLS record points tally against New England Revolution on October 20 in the final round of the scoring round.
Inter Miami currently has 71 points, if they beat New England Revolution, they will have 74 points officially breaking the record of 73 points set by New England Revolution in 2021.
Meanwhile, with Messi, this famous player still plays a moderate amount of time to accumulate playing time. Thereby, gradually regaining his best form when entering the MLS Cup play-off round at the end of October.
After the win over Toronto FC, Messi will return to the Argentina national team to play the 2026 World Cup South American qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia on October 11 and 16, respectively. However, he will not travel back to his country, but will remain in Miami, as the Argentina national team will gather there before the match against Venezuela on October 11.
