Melee, spitting incident mar end of Leagues Cup final

The Seattle Sounders' dominant home victory in the Leagues Cup final on Sunday night was marred by a melee at the final whistle, with tempers flaring and the apparent instigator, Inter Miami striker Luis Suarez, appearing to spit on a Sounders staffer.

Suarez, who has a history of losing his temper, rushed Seattle midfielder Obed Vargas when the 3-0 shutout became final and put him in a headlock. That set off players from both sides yelling, pushing and scuffling and others, including staff members, trying to break it up and pull players away. Inter Miami's Sergio Busquets punched Vargas on the chin, according to a USA Today report, which led to the Sounders' Cody Baker getting into a heated exchange with him.

When Inter Miami's Maxi Falcon tried to pull Baker away from Bousquets, he ended up putting Baker in a headlock, per the USA Today report.

Suarez at one point went to the ground at Lumen Field. He was on his feet later and was yelling at a Sounders staff member when Inter Miami goalkeeper Oscar Ustari got between them in an effort to break it up. However, Suarez appeared to be caught on camera spitting at the staffer in video that went viral on social media.

Asked after the match about his players' behavior, Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano said: "I have nothing to say because I was far away and didn't see what happened. Nobody likes for there to be these types of actions. Maybe there was provocation, but I don't know what happened."

The Leagues Cup is a tournament held jointly by MLS and Liga MX with Concacaf sanctioning, and thus has a disciplinary committee independent from both leagues or the continental federation. Presumably, it would be responsible for deciding any discipline from the incident, though potentially MLS could also get involved.

"Unfortunately, that is going to take some of the attention away from a great performance by the Seattle Sounders," Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer said afterward of the melee. "Their players were frustrated and that led to some things happening on the field that shouldn't happen on the field.

"I'm going to shut that down, because that shouldn't be the story. The story of the game is not what happened after the game. I had a quiet moment with (Inter Miami superstar Lionel) Messi on the field (after the game) and we talked and we tried to push it aside.

"That's the story."