Inter Miami’s winless MLS streak stretches to four games with home tie against San Diego
Inter Miami claimed another trophy on Wednesday night with a win in the Campeones Cup, but it’s still looking for its first MLS victory in nearly a month.
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Inter Miami’s winless streak in MLS play stretched to four games with a 2-2 tie against a struggling San Diego squad on Sunday night at Nu Stadium. Inter Miami has now settled for a draw in four straight MLS matches, with its last such win coming on Aug. 29 against Montreal.
Sunday represented Cristian “Kily” González’s second match, and first MLS match, as Inter Miami’s head coach after taking over on Tuesday.
“We’ve only been here four days, we’ve only trained a little,” González said. “It really frustrates me that I haven’t been able to train the defensive side of things the way I want, because they’re very basic conceptual errors That’s what really gets to me. But now we have a long week ahead.”
San Diego (8-11-7), which had dropped three straight matches prior to Sunday’s tie, opened the scoring with a perfectly timed pass from Jeppe Tverskov that found Anders Dreyer in space. Dreyer took advantage by lifting his shot over Inter Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair’s head for a goal, putting San Diego ahead 1-0 in the 12th minute.
But Lionel Messi didn’t allow San Diego’s lead to last for long, as he whipped a free kick from just outside the box around goalkeeper CJ dos Santos for a goal that tied the match, 1-1, in the 24th minute. Messi’s free kick from the right side of the box bounced off the left goal post and into the net for his MLS-leading 20th goal of the season.
Messi has scored a goal in three straight matches, including in Wednesday’s Campeones Cup victory. Messi has also contributed to a goal (with either his own goal or an assist) in eight consecutive matches.
The match was tied 1-1 at halftime, but Inter Miami entered halftime with an 8-4 advantage in shots.
Inter Miami was also the aggressor in the second half, and it paid off with a goal from Luis Suarez from the right side of the box to take a 2-1 lead in the 74th minute.
But Inter Miami couldn’t close it out despite standing minutes away from jumping back into second place in the Eastern Conference.
San Diego caught Inter Miami’s back line flat-footed, as Dreyer took a pass and finished with a shot that found the back of the net for his second goal of the night to tie the match, 2-2, in the 82nd minute.
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Inter Miami dominated the second half, holding possession for much of the match after halftime. Inter Miami posted a 12-4 edge in shots in the second half.
Messi was even able to get off three shots in the final six minutes of the match, and dos Santos saved each of them.
“Beyond the two goals, the team created six incredible chances,” González said.
San Diego got the final scoring chance of the game, with a counter-attack producing an opportunity to steal the match in the final seconds. But St. Clair saved a shot from San Diego’s Kieran Sargeant and saved the match for Inter Miami just before the referee blew the final whistle.
“We need to be much stronger defensively,” González again emphasized. “We can’t make these kinds of defensive errors. … We didn’t lose because the goalkeeper saved us.
“I have to adjust the defensive aspect, because that’s what worries me most.”
Inter Miami (12-4-10) remains in third place in the East, with second-place New England holding the same amount of points as Inter Miami but ahead in the standings by virtue of a tiebreaker. Inter Miami continues its MLS regular-season schedule on Sept. 27 against the Columbus Crew in Columbus, Ohio.
“Now we have a long week ahead,” González said. “We’ll review our mistakes, which were quite a few, and correct them. And then we’ll put together the best defense. I believe we’ll be ready for the next match.”
Nu Stadium announced as host
FIFA announced Sunday that Nu Stadium will host the final phase of the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup.
Nu Stadium will host the semifinal matches, the bronze final and the championship match of the tournament in January.
“Our vision is to build on the momentum we have created in South Florida and establish Miami and Nu Stadium as one of the world’s great stages for sports and entertainment,” said Iñigo Aznar, who is the chief revenue officer for Inter Miami and Nu Stadium. “Hosting the final phase of the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup 2027 is another important step in that journey, bringing the champions of the world’s leading confederations and some of the best women’s footballers on the planet to our new home. We look forward to welcoming fans from Miami and around the world for an unforgettable celebration of the game.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 9:19 PM.
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