Rodrigo De Paul curled a shot into the upper-right corner in the 82nd minute and, one minute later, Luis Suárez volleyed home after coming on as a substitute as Inter Miami beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, at America First Field.
The scoreline — 2-0 — was settled in two breathless minutes late in the match. De Paul’s goal came after a short corner from Telasco Segovia, and Suárez, who entered in the 75th minute, hammered a left-footed volley past goalkeeper Rafael Cabral a minute after De Paul’s strike. The result gave Inter Miami a shutout secured by goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, who recorded his second clean sheet of the season.
The numbers underline why the win mattered: Inter Miami extended an unbeaten run in regular-season play to eight games, leaving the visitors increasingly difficult to dismiss. For Real Salt Lake, Wednesday’s loss snapped a six-game unbeaten streak that included consecutive multi-goal victories in their prior two matches.
Wednesday’s meeting was the latest chapter in a brief recent history between the clubs; the only other meeting mentioned in the teams’ recent record was the 2024 season opener, which also finished 2-0 in favor of Inter Miami. The repeat scoreline in Utah reinforced a pattern in which Miami has been able to find decisive finishes late in matches against this opponent.
Game flow resisted the early drama the score implies. For long stretches at America First Field the two teams exchanged possession without clear breakthroughs, and the game felt poised to be decided by a single moment. That moment arrived on a set-piece sequence: Segovia’s short corner unlocked space for De Paul, who curled an accurate finish into the upper-right corner in the 82nd minute to break a stubborn deadlock.
Sixty seconds is a short time in soccer, but it was enough for Inter Miami to convert pressure into a second, emphatic strike. Suárez, introduced in the 75th minute, needed only a moment to make an impact. His left-footed volley past Cabral erased any real hope of a late RSL comeback and underscored the veteran striker’s value as a late-game game-changer.
Inter Miami’s defensive performance deserves its share of credit. St. Clair’s clean sheet was his second of the campaign, and it came against a Real Salt Lake side that had looked dangerous over its recent run. The contrast could not have been sharper: RSL arrived on the back of an unbeaten stretch and two multi-goal wins, yet they were unable to test St. Clair enough to avoid defeat.
The result also reinforced the idea that Inter Miami can produce decisive contributions from multiple sources. De Paul’s curled finish and Suárez’s instinctive volley came from different phases of play — a cleverly worked corner and a swift transition — but both showed a team comfortable finishing chances when they arrive.
Tension in this match belonged to Real Salt Lake. The club’s strong start to the season, which included five wins from its first seven MLS games, suggested a team capable of sustaining results. Still, Wednesday’s loss exposed a vulnerability: RSL built momentum through convincing wins but failed to protect that momentum at home against an opponent that had already beaten them in the 2024 season opener.
What happens next matters for both clubs. Inter Miami’s unbeaten run in regular-season matches now stands at eight games, a stretch that will feed confidence as the calendar advances. For Real Salt Lake, a six-game unbeaten streak ending at home will force questions about how the team closes out tight games and responds to moments of pressure late in matches.
For Rodrigo De Paul, the curling strike was the decisive act of the evening; for Luis Suárez, it was another example of late-game finishing that changes matches within a minute. For the fans at America First Field, it was a sudden end to a promising run. The match left Inter Miami riding a wave of results and left Real Salt Lake facing the task of rebuilding momentum after a home defeat that snapped a significant unbeaten sequence.
