Messi Shines as Inter Miami Defeats Toronto FC 4-2
Lionel Messi lit up BMO Field. Robin Fraser saw red.
On a sun-splashed Saturday by the lake, Inter Miami’s superstar cast his usual spell — a goal, two assists, flashes of genius — as the defending MLS Cup champions beat Toronto FC 4-2 in front of a record crowd of 44,828. The football was high quality. The mood at the end was anything but.
Fraser, furious with two key non-calls from referee Victor Rivas, was sent off after the final whistle, his anger boiling over as TFC’s home winless run in league play stretched to six matches.
Fraser erupts over “mind-blowing” decisions
The Toronto coach’s rage centred on two second-half flashpoints that framed the match as much as Messi’s brilliance.
First, Raheem Edwards went down heavily in the Miami half, appearing to be fouled as he drove forward. Rivas waved play on. Edwards stayed on the turf, clearly in distress, and Miami pounced, working the ball forward and scoring their second of the afternoon while the fullback lay prone and kept the play onside.
“I feel really hard done because Raheem was clearly fouled outside our box, a yellow-card foul at that, and the referee lets it go,” Fraser said. “And then the player who is now hurt is the player who keeps them on-side for the second goal. And then Raheem has to come off five minutes later. So, I feel really hard done by some of the calls.
“But I do admit that we made mistakes that led to our own undoing — turnovers for the most part. But the thing that’s really going to stick in my craw is those two calls. It’s mind-blowing to me.”
The second flashpoint came in added time. Derrick Etienne Jr. drove into the Miami box and appeared to be clipped. Toronto screamed for a penalty. Again, nothing.
By then Fraser had seen enough. When asked if Miami’s star-studded, title-winning status influenced the officiating, he didn’t soften his stance.
“The rules are the rules,” he said. “I don’t know if people are afraid to upset superstars by making calls against their team, but the rules are the rules.”
Messi delivers, crowd responds
If Fraser seethed, the neutral fan in the stands got what they came for.
Messi started and immediately turned the afternoon into an occasion. Every touch crackled. Every feint drew a murmur. His passing tempo, his awareness between the lines, his ability to slow and then suddenly quicken the game — all of it had BMO Field in the palm of his hand.
He finished with a goal and two assists, and it could easily have been more had Luka Gavran not produced a superb late save to deny him a second.
The only sour moment for Messi came from the stands, not the pitch. A handful of fans burst onto the field in separate incidents, desperate to reach the Inter Miami captain. Security reacted quickly and brought the chaos under control, but it was an ugly sideshow on a day meant to showcase the sport.
Record crowd, familiar frustration
This was the first time the temporary World Cup stands at BMO Field were in use, pushing the attendance to a club-record 44,828. The stadium looked the part of a global stage.
The home side started like a team ready to own it.
Toronto controlled the early exchanges, snapping into tackles and moving the ball crisply. They created promising transition moments, the kind Fraser later lamented as missed opportunities.
“The first half was fantastic,” he said. “We probably had four or five transition moments that could have been really dangerous and I felt like our decisions there let us down a bit.”
Against a team of Miami’s quality, those fine margins bite. They did in the 44th minute.
Rodrigo De Paul stood over a free kick, his first effort thudding into the TFC wall. The rebound fell kindly back to him in the right half-space outside the box. This time he didn’t miss, smashing a right-footed shot high into the net to silence the stadium and give Miami a 1-0 lead against the run of play.
Toronto almost hit back immediately. Daniel Salloi found space in a dangerous pocket and unleashed a shot that looked destined for the corner until Dayne St Clair, auditioning for a spot on Canada’s World Cup squad, flung himself to his right to claw it away. It was a save of real quality, and a turning point.
The Edwards incident and Miami’s surge
The game’s temperature rose after the break. So did Miami’s ruthlessness.
In the 56th minute, the Edwards incident unfolded. As the Toronto defender hit the deck in the attacking half, play continued. Miami broke, Messi drifting into his favourite pocket, head up, options everywhere.
He picked Luis Suarez.
The Argentine threaded a perfectly weighted pass into the box, and Suarez did the rest, steering a left-footed shot into the corner while Edwards lay in agony, the Toronto supporters howling at Rivas for not stopping play. The goal stood. The boos grew louder.
Toronto refused to fold. Zane Monlouis climbed well to meet a cross and forced another strong save from St Clair, a reminder that the match still had a pulse.
Then the dam burst.
Sergio Reguilon arrived in the 73rd minute to make it 3-0, finishing a sweeping move with Messi again involved in the build-up. Two minutes later, Messi claimed his ninth goal of the MLS season, drifting into the centre of the box and guiding a left-footed finish home after a neat set-up from De Paul.
Miami, who finished with 60 per cent possession and six shots on target to Toronto’s five, looked every inch the champion: composed, clinical, unflustered.
Their record now reads 6-2-4. Toronto’s slips to 3-4-5.
Aristizabal’s late spark
At 4-0 down, some teams disappear. Toronto didn’t.
Emilio Aristizabal came off the bench in the 65th minute and injected life into a match that seemed dead. His movement unsettled Miami’s back line, and his finishing gave the home crowd something to cling to.
First, a right-footed strike cut the deficit. Then a well-timed header made it 4-2, the substitute suddenly on a brace and the stadium roaring again, if only out of pride.
The Reds pressed to the end, swarming around the Miami box, forcing hurried clearances and half-chances. They never truly threatened a comeback, but they refused to go quietly.
Given the injury list, that defiance mattered. TFC again lined up without several key starters: Djordje Mihailovic (pelvis), Josh Sargent, Richie Laryea (thigh) and Matheus Pereira (groin) all sidelined. Nicksoen Gomis returned to the matchday squad after his Achilles issue, but depth remains stretched.
A long wait ahead
This was Toronto’s 10th straight home match in all competitions. It was also their last at BMO Field until after the World Cup break. The New England Revolution won’t visit until Aug. 15.
By then, the temporary stands will be a World Cup memory, not a novelty. Messi and Miami will be chasing more silverware. Toronto will hope their injured core is back, their identity sharper, their luck with officials kinder.
For now, the image that lingers is stark: Messi celebrating, Fraser marching off, and a record crowd walking into the Toronto night wondering when this stadium will feel like a fortress again.
