Miami, 21 September, 2026 (Ghufran): Lionel Messi and Inter Miami’s hopes of moving closer to the top of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference suffered a setback as they were held to a 2-2 draw by San Diego in Florida. Danish forward Anders Dreyer scored twice for San Diego, opening the scoring in the 12th minute after receiving a through ball from Jeppe Tverskov and chipping the ball over Miami goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair. Messi restored parity in the 24th minute with a curling free-kick that marked his 101st goal for Inter Miami. Miami continued to dominate possession and created several chances through Messi, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul, but San Diego resisted the pressure. De Paul eventually set up Suarez, who fired Miami ahead in the 74th minute. However, San Diego responded late in the match when Tverskov again found Dreyer with a precise pass, allowing the Danish forward to score his second goal and level the game at 2-2. San Diego nearly snatched victory in stoppage time, but St. Clair denied Kieran Sargeant’s late effort to preserve a point for Miami. The draw leaves Inter Miami 11 points behind Nashville with eight regular-season games remaining.