Inter Miami forward Luis Suárez will be suspended for the final game in the Round 1 MLS playoff best-of-three series against Nashville SC.
Suárez earned the one-game ban for kicking Nashville’s Andy Nájar in the second half of the match on Nov. 1 at Geodis Park, where Inter Miami lost 2-1. At the time of the incident, the referee did not issue the player a yellow or red card.
“The MLS Disciplinary Committee has suspended Inter Miami CF forward Luis Suárez for one match and fined Suárez an undisclosed amount under Disciplinary Committee Parameter 3 for violent conduct in the 71st minute of Inter Miami’s match against Nashville SC on November 1st. Suárez will serve his one-match suspension on November 8 during Miami’s match against Nashville SC,” the MLS Disciplinary Committee said in a statement.
Major League Soccer rules allow, however, for postgame disciplinary action to be enforced when a match official fails to issue a card for an offense on the field.
Suárez will now serve his second suspension from MLS action in 2025, after initially receiving a three-game ban for spitting on a member of the Seattle Sounders’ staff following the Leagues Cup final on Aug. 31.
“Inter Miami CF accepts and respects the decision made by the MLS Disciplinary Committee,” the club said in a statement on Wednesday. At the same time, the club wishes to express its concern about the precedent set by re-refereeing a play that had already been judged by the match officials and VAR, and its confidence that the same standard will be applied in the future to all on-field situations, in any match and involving any team.”
Inter Miami will now enter the decisive final game of the playoff series without Suárez, as the team looks to qualify to the next round of the postseason. The Round 1 series is tied 1-1 after Inter Miami won the first game but lost the second.
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