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San Diego FC walked out of Miami with something it desperately needed: a result.
After three straight MLS losses and a 2-1 defeat to Club Tijuana in the Baja Cup, SDFC traveled to face the defending MLS Cup champions with plenty of questions surrounding the team.
The 2-2 draw against Inter Miami showed a different version of San Diego FC.
More organized. More difficult to break down. More dangerous in transition.
And, perhaps most importantly, it showed that Mikey Varas may have found a formation that can give SDFC some of the defensive stability it has been missing.
The 3-4-3 Was Worth the Experiment
Varas made a significant tactical change Sunday, moving SDFC into a true 3-4-3.
Ian Pilcher, Ian Murphy and Manu Duah formed the back three, with Kieran Sargeant and Dagur Thórhallsson operating as wingbacks. Jeppe Tverskov and Aníbal Godoy anchored the midfield, while Elias Achouri and Anders Dreyer played as true wingers around Marcus Ingvartsen.
It wasn't simply a 3-4-2-1 with Dreyer and Achouri tucked inside.
The two wingers stayed wider and higher, giving SDFC an outlet when it won the ball while allowing the wingbacks to provide additional support underneath them.
That structure seemed to suit SDFC.
"We decided to change the system to a three-four-three," Varas said. "We felt that with the profiles that we had available for the game, that this was the best way to create stability."
That word — stability — has been particularly important for SDFC this season.
San Diego has shown it can dominate matches when everything is clicking but maintaining that level for 90 minutes has been a different story.
Against Miami, SDFC looked much more comfortable defending in a mid-block and then attacking the space left behind Miami's defense.
The result was a team that didn't need to dominate possession to create danger.
Tverskov and Dreyer Found the Formula
The most obvious success from the tactical change was the connection between Jeppe Tverskov and Anders Dreyer.
The two have worked on this exact combination before, and it produced both of SDFC's goals.
In the 12th minute, Tverskov launched a perfectly weighted ball forward that found Dreyer making a run behind Miami's defense. Dreyer took advantage of the space and chipped Dayne St. Clair to put SDFC ahead.
Then, after Luis Suárez gave Miami a 2-1 lead in the second half, Tverskov found Dreyer again.
This time, Dreyer attacked the half-space, timed his run behind the defense and finished with his left foot to bring San Diego level in the 82nd minute.
Dreyer said afterward that the pair has been working on the play for a long time.
"It's something we practice a lot," Dreyer said. "Jeppe is so good at that finding me in positions like that, and me timing the runs. It's a good cocktail."
That's an important weapon for SDFC.
Dreyer doesn't need to receive the ball at his feet every time to influence a game. When he starts from a wider position and attacks inside, Tverskov's ability to hit those diagonal balls gives San Diego another way to progress the ball without having to build every attack through short combinations.
And when Dreyer gets into those situations, he is one of the most dangerous players on the team.
His two goals brought him to 11 goals and 11 assists in MLS this season, giving him 22 goal contributions.
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SDFC Still Had to Survive Miami
The formation worked, but this wasn't a perfect performance.
Miami finished with 19 shots to San Diego's eight and eight shots on target compared to SDFC's three.
That is where CJ Dos Santos became so important.
Returning from his one-game suspension, Dos Santos made six saves and kept SDFC in the game during several difficult stretches.
His most important stop may have come just before halftime, allowing San Diego to enter the break level at 1-1. The goalkeeper also made several important saves after Miami took the lead.
"Everybody came up big tonight," Dos Santos said. "Obviously, we wanted to look forward to bring home three points back to San Diego, but looking at this result, it's a really good step in the right direction."
That's probably the fairest assessment of the match. SDFC didn't need to control Miami for 90 minutes. Instead, it found ways to absorb pressure, defend its box and create dangerous moments when opportunities presented themselves.
That is a different way to win — or, in this case, draw — a game.
The Second Half Still Needs Work
The biggest concern was what happened after halftime.
SDFC's first half was arguably its best stretch of football in the match. The team pressed higher at times, created turnovers and found ways to attack Miami's defensive line. But that intensity dropped.
Varas admitted that San Diego lost some of its quality and decision-making after the break.
"In the second half we lose a little bit our ability to maintain that intensity, quality, and decision making in key moments," Varas said.
That eventually allowed Miami to take control. Rodrigo De Paul found Suárez in space inside the box in the 74th minute, and the veteran striker finished to give Miami the lead.
For much of the second half, it looked like SDFC's inability to maintain its first-half level would cost it. Instead, Tverskov and Dreyer produced one more moment of quality.
Earlier this season, SDFC has struggled when matches turn against it. The team has often looked capable of playing one way but struggled to change the game once the opponent gained control.
Against Miami, San Diego didn't completely solve that problem, but it did find a way back.
A Point That Could Matter
It is easy to look at a 2-2 draw and focus on the fact that SDFC had a chance to win but the focus should be on the big picture.
San Diego snapped its three-game MLS losing streak, picked up a point on the road and did it against the defending MLS Cup champions. More importantly, it showed a tactical identity that could be worth exploring over the final eight games.
Dreyer certainly liked what he saw.
"I think it's a strong point away from home in Miami and tough away trip," he said. "Hopefully this can stop some momentum going into the last eight games."
That is the challenge now.
The 3-4-3 shouldn't automatically become the answer to every problem SDFC has. But against Miami, it provided something this team has been searching for: a better balance between defensive structure and attacking threat.
The wingbacks gave the team width without forcing Dreyer and Achouri to constantly drop into midfield. Tverskov and Godoy provided a stable base. And Dreyer was able to do what he does best — start wide, attack the space inside and make runs behind the defense.
It also gave SDFC a way to defend with numbers without completely sacrificing its ability to counter. With eight MLS games remaining, San Diego doesn't need to reinvent itself.
It needs to find something it can trust. Sunday in Miami may have provided the first real glimpse of it.
