San Diego FC came into its final regular-season home match Saturday with a chance to become the winningest expansion franchise in MLS history.
The San Jose Earthquakes, however, had other ideas, and left Snapdragon Stadium with a 1-0 victory.
San Diego wasn’t able to find the back of the net. The first and only goal of the match was scored by San Jose striker Josef Martinez via a left-footed shot from the center of the box during the match’s 14th minute.
SDFC had come into the match looking to earn a clean sweep against California teams, having already defeated the LA Galaxy and LA Football Club twice this year. Instead, the loss dropped them to 5-1 against Golden State teams, still an impressive run for a first-year team against much more established franchises.
An SDFC victory would have broken the MLS expansion points record (currently 57, by Los Angeles FC in 2018, and tied by San Diego this year) and set a new record for most wins by an expansion club with 18.
Saturday’s loss dropped SDFC’s overall record to 17-9, with 6 draws and 57 points, good enough for first place in the Western Conference, just ahead of the Vancouver Whitecaps (16-6-9, 57 points). San Jose improves to 10-14-8 and 38 points.
However, San Diego hasn’t recorded a win since an Aug. 31 match at LAFC. SDFC’s last home victory came two months ago, a 1-0 match against Nashville SC on July 21.
“It’s a long time since we won at home – we know this. We had some tough games here,” star midfielder and league MVP candidate Anders Dreyer said during the post-match
press conference.
Teams coming onto SDFC’s home pitch are giving their all because they want to knock off the top team in the West, Dreyer said, and San Diego needs to adjust.
“The teams that come here, they respect us and the way we play,” he said. “There was a feeling that we could win today and we didn’t. I know that the hunger is to win, especially in front of our own fans.”
San Jose, in addition to keeping San Diego from making history, gained revenge for a previous loss. In their last meeting on Aug. 17, SDFC trailed 1-0 for 80 minutes before making two goals in the final 10 minutes to earn a 2-1 win.
Although San Diego held possession of the ball 72% of the time during the first half Saturday, the team wasn’t able to do much with it, taking nine shots, but none on target. By contrast, San Jose took five shots, including one that found the back of the net.
For the full match, San Jose managed 27% possession. San Diego took a whopping 19 shots, but only three were on target.
“It comes down to details,” SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said. “It’s not big things that need change — it’s little things. All of us will be putting our heads together and figuring what we can do to hit our stride.”
A factor in the team’s lack of home wins lately, he said, was a specific approach on the pitch by their adversaries.
They want to “slow the game down, chop it up, wasting time,” Varas said. “It’s (a) strategy that these opponents have.”
Up next, San Diego’s last two regular season matches both take place on the road. The club faces the Houston Dynamo on Oct. 4, then the Portland Timbers on Oct. 18.
The MLS playoffs then kick off on Oct. 22, starting with wild card matches. As a top seed, SDFC wouldn’t play until Oct. 24 at the earliest.
Notes: SDFC officially opened its Right to Dream Academy in El Cajon this week. The academy provides boys ages 10–18 with training in soccer and life skills, plus a full five-year scholarship. The school launched with 17 under-13 student-athletes and is expected to expand in future years to include additional age groups and girls’ teams.
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