It was no Lionel Messi, no problem for Inter Miami in Montreal on Saturday night.

The reigning MLS Cup champions — missing Argentina internationals Messi and Rodrigo De Paul after their run to last week’s World Cup final — picked up a 1-0 victory at Stade Saputo, extending CF Montreal’s winless streak to six league matches. Montreal now has 10 wins from 17 matches, closing out the first half of their regular season on 15 points from those 17 contests.

Luis Suarez had the lone goal of the game, a brilliantly-chipped shot from the penalty spot in the 81st minute after a scary collision involving Germán Berterame and Montreal defender Efraín Morales in the box.

Morales went through the back of the Mexican attacker, appearing to hit him in the back of the head with his own forehead, and Berterame went to ground in a heap. Players from both sides immediately started pleading for the medical staff to come to aid him, and an ambulance was even driven onto the pitch to provide assistance. Thankfully, Miami manager Guillermo Hoyos confirmed after the match that Berterame was “okay and conscious” and recovering.

Scary scenes as Inter Miami’s Berterame suffered a serious head injury, forcing an ambulance onto the pitch. Prayers for his recovery. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/yQtrlfqx3a

— Rajat 🪄 (@FCBRajat) July 26, 2026

Suarez dedicated his goal to his teammate, with the penalty taking place over 10 minutes after the collision due to the amount of treatment and caution needed on the pitch.

The match was also significant for Miami as it was the MLS debut for Brazilian star Casemiro, who joined the club this week as a free agent after over a decade in Europe, mostly with Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Montreal were looking to shake off their five-game winless streak in MLS action, but couldn’t find the back of the net for the third league match in a row — drawing 0-0 with Toronto FC before back-to-back 1-0 defeats.

Wednesday night’s 1-0 loss in Nashville also came as a result of a second half penalty, after Noah Streit allegedly fouled Sam Surridge in the penalty area before the Englishman stepped up to score the controversial penalty himself. They can have less complaints about the one against Miami.

Hennadiy Synchuk had three golden opportunities inside the penalty area on Saturday, including both Montreal shots on target, but couldn’t convert any of them. In the 13th minute Rocco Ríos Novo — starting again in place of Canadian goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair — stopped a shot from a couple of yards out from Synchuk. The Ukranian midfielder missed wide with a shot from the edge of the six yard box five minutes after halftime, and in the 68th minute his attempt from a set piece was also stopped by the goalkeeper.

The biggest miss of the night, though, goes to Daniel Ríos — who fired a shot well-wide of the net from inside the six yard box just five minutes into the game. His shot had an expected goals (xG) rating of 0.91– about as much of a lock to go in as it gets. For comparison, the xG on a penalty is right around 0.75.

As a team Montreal created 2.07 xG compared to Miami’s 1.72, but underperformed it massively.

Not the way Sam Piette wanted to celebrate his 252nd match for the club, moving him into fourth all-time.

Samuel Piette passe au 4e rang de l’histoire du Club avec 252 matchs joués 👏

Piette continues to climb the ranks, now 4th all time in CF Montréal history with 2⃣5⃣2⃣ games played 📈#CFMTL pic.twitter.com/vtvt0MH20C

— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) July 25, 2026

Montreal’s next two matches are at home as well, against the New England Revolution next Saturday and D.C. United on August 15. D.C. beat Toronto FC 1-0 on Saturday night, while the Revs drew 0-0 with Toronto midweek — so both matches will serve as something of a barometer of how they compare to their Canadian and Eastern Conference rivals after a scoreless draw at Stade Saputo against TFC on July 16.

They’ll at least want to start scoring some goals. Despite scoring six goals in three games before the World Cup break, Philippe Eullaffroy’s side have been blanked three times in a row.

Sitting near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and perhaps, sensing some urgency, CF Montréal made a flurry of moves on Friday, starting with the addition of New England Revolution centre-back Brayan Ceballos for up to $850,000 in General Allocation Money. Montréal then flipped Dagur Dan Thórhallsson to San Diego for up to $650,000 in GAM, and added $275,000 more by trading an international roster spot to LAFC.

Ceballos was not available on Saturday but is expected to join the team in the coming days. The Colombian is expected to play a much larger role than defender Tomás Avilés, whose unsuccessful loan from Miami was recently cut short after six months.

On Thursday, Canadian youth international defender Aleksandr Guboglo also departed Montreal for France, joining Ligue 2’s Stade Reims on loan.