SEATTLE — The day was just about perfect for the Seattle Sounders. With nearly 70,000 fans packed into Lumen Field, a team made up of mostly local products and second-chancers beat the most star-studded roster in MLS history to win a trophy.
Great as all that was, a postgame melee that was seemingly started by bitter Inter Miami players — which included Sergio Busquets throwing a punch and Luis Suarez spitting on a Sounders staffer — is what is garnering international headlines.
After looking through a combination of footage from the broadcast and a video shot by Sounder at Heart’s Niko Moreno as well as other clips on social media, I think we’ve been able to assemble a reasonable timeline of what happened.
Based on the available video evidence, it all started when Obed Vargas and Luis Suarez were bantering after the whistle. Suarez then put his arm around Vargas’ neck. Vargas seems to first think it’s a friendly gesture only to realize that it’s more of a head lock. Sounders defender Yeimar Gomez Andrade comes over to separate them, at which point Vargas works himself free and starts laughing and pointing at Suarez.
With Vargas slowly walking backward, but continuing to talk, Sergio Busquets reaches around Cody Baker and connects with a punch on Vargas’ chin. Vargas goes down. Baker then gets into Busquets’ face before Maximiliano Falcon grabs him.
At that point, the situation turns very chaotic with no less than a dozen players from both teams pushing, shoving and grabbing one another.
The next flashpoint seems to be defender Marcelo Weingadt grabbing Jackson Ragen around the neck from behind as Sounders assistants Freddy Juarez and Steven Lenhart join the fray. Busquets grabs Juarez by the head, while Lenhart and Suarez start pushing and shoving.
On the other side of the fracas, Miami defender Tomás Aviles starts grabbing at Ragen before Jon Bell tackles him to the ground.
Meanwhile, away from the main action, Lenhart and Suarez are still arguing. Sounders head of security Gene Ramirez comes over along with fourth official Joe Dickerson. Lenhart eventually heads to the locker room and Dickerson leaves Suarez and Ramirez to help calm down the main fracas as Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari arrives. With Ramirez seemingly trying to disengage, Ustari steps between them. Shortly after Ustari arrives, Suarez steps on the foot of Ramirez, holding him in place, and spits on him, striking the bill of his cap and cheek.
My video of the incident.
— BJ Ca$h Money (@bjcashmoney.bsky.social) 2025-09-01T03:49:06.478Z
To his credit, Ustari seems to check on Ramirez, who waves him away and heads to the locker room without further dramatics and the situation seems to settle down.
The aftermath
The Suarez spitting incident is clearly the most egregious and is mostly likely to bring the biggest penalty. Although it happened outside of MLS play, a clause in the CBA seemingly allows Commissioner Don Garber to levy a punishment for “alleged off-field conduct” that is “detrimental to the public image and/or reputation of the league.”
Since the Leagues Cup is a joint venture between MLS and Liga MX, and sanctioned by Concacaf, I have no doubt that some process will need to be worked through. But the only thing seemingly stopping Garber from suspending Suarez for an extended period is the will to do so.
