Lionel Messi‘s 14th goal of the season wasn’t enough to prevent Inter Miami from slumping to their fourth loss in their last five games, courtesy of Toronto FC, on Saturday.
Messi found the net with a first-time finish from a Rodrigo De Paul throughball with eight minutes of regulation time remaining but the home side’s late rally fell short in a 2-1 defeat to its Canadian visitors at Nu Stadium.
Toronto had earlier scored twice in the space of of three second-half minutes, through United States striker Josh Sargent and Derrick Etienne Jr. And that was enough to give Toronto just its fifth win in 21 MLS games this season.
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As well as two defeats to exit the Leagues Cup at the first hurdle, Miami was also beaten 4-1 at Nashville SC a week ago. A 2-2 draw with the Philadelphia Union in midweek, in which Messi also scored, stopped the run of defeats but it is now almost a month since Miami tasted victory in MLS.
As a result, Nashville now has a chance to extend its lead over Miami to 10 points at the top of the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings. While Miami remains second in the East, last season’s MLS Cup winners will now be looking over its shoulder to ensure it claims a top-four spot and homefield advantage in round one of the playoffs.
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The result was more bad news for Miami after Messi and defender Ian Fray were fined undisclosed amounts by MLS on Friday for making contact in the head and neck area of opponents in separate incidents against Philadelphia.
It is a much different story for Toronto, which is now four games without a loss and has climbed back into playoff contention.
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“Not gonna sit here and act like it’s perfect,” Sargent, whose goal Saturday was just his fourth for Toronto since his offseason arrival for an initial $22 million fee, told Apple TV. “We still have a long way to go, but I think the spirit of this team we fight till the end.
“We got a good result against Charlotte a couple of days ago, good result against New England and this is a massive win for us. So hopefully we can continue this momentum and keep pushing forward.”
