Rodrigo De Paul will be a notable absence when Inter Miami travel to face the Philadelphia Union for the 2026 MLS season. The Argentine midfielder has racked up enough yellow cards over the course of the campaign to trigger an automatic one-match ban under MLS’s accumulation rules, ruling him out of the starting lineup for this game.
The suspension comes at an inconvenient time for Guillermo Hoyos, who will need to reshuffle his midfield. De Paul has been a near-constant fixture in Miami’s XI since arriving, and his absence leaves a gap both defensively and offensively.
This isn’t the first time De Paul has sat out an MLS match this year. Earlier in the campaign, he was also left out against the Chicago Fire and CF Montreal as part of a managed workload following Argentina’s exhausting World Cup run. In those games, the Herons managed to win both matches without Lionel Messi as well.
With De Paul sidelined, Miami will likely lean on Casemiro as the midfield engine, while Messi remains the team focal point. The absence is a one-match issue rather than a long-term concern, and De Paul will be back once the suspension is served.
Inter Miami looking to snap a three-game losing skid
Beyond the De Paul suspension, this match carries extra weight for Inter Miami, who arrive in Philadelphia in the middle of their worst stretch of the season. The Herons have lost three straight games, two Leagues Cup matches that ended Miami’s tournament campaign, followed by a 4-1 collapse against Nashville SC in which Messi missed his third consecutive penalty.
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Despite the skid, Miami still sit second in the MLS standings at 39 points from 19 games, and a result against Philadelphia would go a long way toward steadying the ship before the stretch run.
