Lionel Messi scored his 101st goal for Inter Miami CF. But Anders Dreyer scored two for San Diego FC as the teams settled for a 2-2 draw on Sunday night. (MLS)
It was Inter Miami’s fourth straight draw in MLS play, as new boss Kily Gonzlez watched his first MLS game in charge of the club and looked on from the sidelines, frustrated that his side dropped points due to a late goal.
“We’ve been here for four days and haven’t been able to do any training, so defensively, we need to be a lot stronger,” Gonzlez said after the game. “We can’t make these defensive atrocities; we have to avoid them at all costs. That final situation shouldn’t have happened. It’s surreal that we’re winning the game and could almost lose it.
“We only avoided defeat because our goalkeeper kept us alive.”
Dreyer gave San Diego a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute when he finished off a through ball from Jeppe Tverskov, chipping over St. Clair.
Messi responded in the 24th with his 20th league goal of the season. His right-sided free kick went through the defensive wall untouched and into the far corner of the net, just four days after scoring his 100th goal for Inter Miami in a 2-0 win over Mexican side Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup. (ESPN)
“I think the Campeones Cup might have had an unconscious effect, especially in the first half, leading to a bit of complacency,” Gonzlez added. “They are factors that belong to football. In a club where we are obliged to win every game we play, we have to rise to the occasion. We made some important changes at halftime to get the team moving and maintain our compactness and keep our lines tight to prevent suffering as we did in the first half.”
His goal was Messi’s eighth from a free kick since 2023, more than any other player in MLS over that period. (MLS)
Luis Suarez put Miami 2-1 up in the 74th minute as Miami appeared to be about to leapfrog New England into second place in the Eastern Conference, only for Dreyer to equalize for San Diego eight minutes later with another superb finish – this time from a ball over the top of Miami’s defensive line. (FotMob)
Miami, with a record of 12-4-10 and 46 points, is in third place, 11 behind leaders Nashville. (MLS)
“But anyway, we have to keep going,” Gonzlez said. “On the positive side, we did some good things, but I need to sort out the defensive part because that is what worries me most.”
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