“Chooookie” and friends lit up the soccer pitch Saturday night.
The best game yet from star Hirving “Chucky” Lozano played a big part in San Diego FC ending its three-game skid with a 5-0 victory against FC Dallas.
Two goals by Lozano in the first half rewarded a lineup change by coach Mikey Varas, excited the announced crowd of 27,108 in Mission Valley and returned bounce to the expansion team’s step.
Lozano powered home a penalty kick in the 20th minute with a 12-yard pulled liner that caromed into the net off the goalkeeper’s right hand. The goal cashed a foul caused by right wing Alex Mighten after he squeezed by two defenders and sold the referee that he’d been tripped in the box.
The speedy 137-pound Mighten, 23, was making his second start as part of Varas’ shakeup that moved Anders Dreyer from right wing to center forward.
Seven minutes later, the new-look offense clicked again.
From his left wing spot, Lozano made a long diagonal run and put away Dreyer’s astute after getting past a defender and the goalkeeper. Dreyer, though accustomed to playing wide, showed savvy awareness from an interior spot.
“Really good run by Hirving, but also a really good spot for Anders whenever he picked up the ball,” said SDFC’s general manager and sporting director, Tyler Heaps, at halftime.
Earlier, SDFC was fortunate that none of its several turnovers led to a Dallas goal.
But the home team figured out how to counter the visitors’ aggression.
“We did well to isolate their center backs,” Heaps said. “They’re being very brave in of how they’re defending. They’re stepping up with our wingers with their center backs. And so, they’re playing a little differently than we anticipated them to do. But, then you saw with the goal as well as the penalty, both of them, we isolated the center backs and were able to get behind them.
“We need to do more of that,” the GM added. “We’re drawing them out more, they’re putting more numbers into their press. So, if we can find that space in midfield we should be able to get behind them.”
The expected breakaway came early in the second half.
Paddy McNair’s steal ,which Dallas said was created by a foul, triggered a fast break that Lozano directed.
This time, it was Dreyer making a long run up the right side.
Lozano fed him a perfect , and Dane netted it for his fourth goal, tying Mexico City’s Lozano for team honors.
By then the party was in full swing among fans, especially the ers behind the north goal who bang drums, wave flags and sing.
Two more goals increased the fans’ volumn. Onni Valarki, assisted by Lozano, made it 4-0 with a point-blank uncontested shot off the underside of the crossbar. Escondido native Milan Iloski, increased SDFC’s season-best goal total with a sharp-angled shot in the 87th minute. For Iloski, a 25-year-old striker who played for the SDFC’s sister club in Denmark the past two years, it was his first MLS goal.
It was that kind of night for the San Diego newbies, who will play at St. Louis this Saturday to begin a stretch of three games in eight days.
