FORT LAUDERDALE — Rookie Federico Redondo scored the first two goals of his career in the second half after assisting on a first-half score by Diego Gómez and Inter Miami posted a 3-1 victory over Toronto FC on Wednesday night.
Neither team scored until Redondo fed Gómez for a goal in the 43rd minute to give Inter Miami (15-4-5) a 1-0 lead at halftime. It was the third goal for Gómez and the third assist for Redondo.
Redondo’s goals came in a six-minute span. The 21-year-old midfielder used an assist from defender Julian Gressel in the 53rd minute to forge a two-goal lead and found the net again — off passes from Gómez and Gressel — in the 59th to make it 3-0. Gómez has six assists this season, while Gressel has 12. Gressel has an assist in five straight matches. He and Lionel Messi are the second pair of teammates to pull off at least a five-match assist run in the same season in league history.
Toronto (8-14-3) avoided a shutout when Derrick Etienne Jr. scored in the 80th minute. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty notched his third assist and Kosi Thompson picked up his first on Etienne’s third goal this season.
Drake Callendar finished with three saves in goal for Inter Miami, becoming the first player to make 100 appearances in club history. Striker Robert Taylor subbed in for Gómez in the 80th minute for his 100th appearance to make it a two-man club.
Sean Johnson saved two shots for Toronto.
Luis Suárez subbed into the match in the second half in his return to Inter Miami after playing in Copa America for Uruguay. Messi, who played in the event for Argentina, is out indefinitely after suffering a ligament injury in his right ankle in a victory over Colombia in the final.
Counterintuitively, Inter Miami have rolled through the MLS season without their superstar. Inter Miami, despite Messi having missed half the team’s games (12 of 24), own the best record in Major League Soccer, having 50 points with 10 regular-season games remaining. The 50 points represent the most points ever scored by the franchise in an MLS season, topping the 48 put up in 2022.
Inter Miami will host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
