FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Heavy rush hour traffic, a late-afternoon rainstorm, and a Messi-less midweek Leagues Cup game meant a smaller crowd than usual at Chase Stadium Thursday night as defending champion Inter Miami edged Toronto FC, 4-3, to advance to the Round of 16 despite going down a man late in the first half.

The team rewarded the fans who showed up with a barrage of early goals. Inter Miami led 3-1 after 20 minutes with goals by Matias Rojas, Diego Gomez and Luis Suarez. Jordi Alba had all three assists and got a fourth in the second half.

Lionel Messi is out indefinitely with an ankle injury. He missed his fourth game in a row and 16th of the season due to injury and Copa America. He watched the game from a field-level suite.

Suarez returned to the starting lineup after sitting out the group stage game against Mexican team Tigres last Saturday, which Miami lost, 2-1.

Also back in the lineup was Gomez in his first game since representing Paraguay in the Paris Olympics. Key Biscayne teenager Benjamin Cremaschi, who was also at the Olympics with Team USA, was on the bench for Thursday’s game.

Fans were still arriving when Rojas left footed a low shot into the bottom left corner in the third minute to give Inter Miami an early lead. The cross came from Alba.

Eight minutes later, Alba settled a long pass from Sergio Busquets and then layed off a well-timed pass to Gomez, who was running in from the top of the 18 and slotted in the shot.

Toronto closed the gap to 2-1 in the 14th minute on a penalty kick by Lorenzo Insigne, who was taken down in the box by Chelo Weigandt.

Suarez made it 3-1 with a chip-in from close range past Toronto keeper Sean Johnson, and it looked as if the men in pink were in for an easy win.

But things got complicated shortly thereafter. Inter Miami center back David Martinez, who joined the team two weeks ago from Argentine club River Plate, was called for a foul on Prince Osei Owusu on the edge of the box at the 27-minute mark and initially was slapped with a yellow card. A VAR review ruled that the foul was not in the box, so Toronto was not awarded a penalty kick, but Martinez’s yellow card was upgraded to red, leaving Miami a man down the rest of the night.

It was only a matter of time before Toronto scored again, on another penalty kick by Insigne. This one came in the 41st minute after a foul by Alba.

Miami led 3-2 at halftime and widened the lead to 4-2 on a second goal from Rojas in the 59th minute, assisted by (who else?) Alba, with his fourth assist of the night. Toronto got within a goal again with 10 minutes to go as Osei Owusu headed in a shot that glanced off Miami defender Noah Allen.

Miami will play the winner of Friday’s Round of 32 matchup between Columbus Crew and Sporting KC and the game will be on the road, as seedings are based on last season’s MLS standings and both teams finished higher than Miami.

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