San Diego FC will enter the two-week international break on a positive note, following a convincing 2-0 win against Austin FC at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night that avenged a 2-1 road loss in March and completed a 5-1-1 May by the expansion club.
Both goals were by players who grew up in the county – midfielder Luca de la Torre in the 60th midfielder and the clincher in extra time by substitute Milan Iloski literally moments after he stepped on the field.
“It’s pretty sweet,” said Iloski, a San Pasqual High alum. “Luca and I have known each other for a long time. Now being teammates as adults, it’s a pretty good feeling to be a couple San Diego kids who are out here in front of all our friends and families.”
The night wasn’t all roses and sunshine, though.
Three of the most prominent ers’ groups were conspicuously absent from Snapdragon Stadium a day after the club announced indefinite bans for 33 fans involved in the postgame violence against their LA Galaxy counterparts a week earlier.
And star winger Hirving “Chucky” Lozano collapsed to the turf in the 64th minute without , grabbing his left hamstring and walking gingerly to the locker room.
The latter, unfortunately, has become a familiar sight. Lozano injured the same hamstring in the March 1 home opener and missed most of the month. He also suffered what was described as a “muscle injury” with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven last September that sidelined him nearly three months.
The timing isn’t awful for SDFC, which doesn’t play its next league game until June 14 and expected Lozano to be absent possibly into early July on national-team duty.
But the timing is awful for Lozano, set to the Mexican national team on Monday for friendlies against Switzerland and Turkiye. Twenty-six players from the 35-man roster will stay with the team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup that runs through July 6.
“He felt something,” coach Mikey Varas said. “I don’t have enough information to tell you what it is. But obviously he stepped out, and he never wants to step out of anything.
“I feel for the guy because he’s gaining such rhythm right now. Hopefully it’s not as big a setback as last time.”
Lozano was a regular with El Tri earlier in his career, logging 70 appearances but none over the past 14 months. And without Mexico needing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup as a co-host, the Gold Cup figures to be a crucial, and maybe last, opportunity to re-establish himself in coach Javier Aguirre’s plans.
SDFC didn’t start Lozano in the midweek game at Seattle, using him only in the second half of the 1-0 loss knowing they played again three days later.
“That just shows you how crazy life is,” Varas said. “You can have all the processes in place to do all the right things, but there’s nothing guaranteed in life. The last time we had three games (in eight days), he started all three of them, played, fine. This time, we decided to rotate him in Seattle not because of performance but purely because we wanted to save him physically, and then this happens.
“At the end of the day, what I’ve learned is you don’t control pretty much anything.”
The announced crowd at Snapdragon Stadium was 27,133, although there were a few notable absences. The first clue was the dearth of flags in the home ers’ section behind the north goal.
Daygo Boys, Barra 18 and Chavos San Diego, three of the largest and most vocal groups that regularly populate the section and make it pop, organized a watch party at a local ale house instead and spent the night singing and drumming there.
The presumption was they were staging a protest over the bans from the wild brawls inside Snapdragon after last weekend’s home game against the LA Galaxy.
Many of them, presumably, belong to those three ers’ groups. The fighting, according to several social media s, was triggered by a Galaxy er group stealing a Daygo Boys flag with an image of Bob Marley at the Feb. 23 season opener in Carson, then displaying it at Snapdragon Stadium upside down.
It wasn’t clear whether their absence Saturday night was solely about the bans, however. Some social media posts suggested they had planned the watch party “for a while” and was more about their relationship with the other four groups that make up the north goal collective.
“The other 4 SGs talk a big game,” one poster wrote, “so its finally time for them to show it.”
The section was not its usual, vibrant self before the game and through the first half. But it filled in as the night went on and got louder – although not to past decibel levels – after de la Torre’s goal in the 60th minute on an assist from Lozano.
Four minutes later, Lozano was sitting on the turf, holding his left hamstring.
It came 17 minutes before Danish striker Marcus Ingvartsen returned to the field for the first time since hurting his quad on March 12, the longest injury absence of the 29-year-old’s pro career. Just their luck: They get one starter back and lose another.
“It’s just a very bad situation,” Ingvartsen said of Lozano. “Now we’ll see how his injury is. Of course, it doesn’t look good when he steps out of the game (and it’s) in the same place. It’s very tough, especially with those muscle injuries, coming back. I cross my fingers that it’s not too severe. He’s been through it. He’s come back very strong from it once. I’m sure he can do that twice.
“But it’s the tough part of this game.”
Notable
SDFC is along in second place in the Western Conference, just two points behind Vancouver (which has played two fewer games) … Next up is a friendly against Mexico’s Club America on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium. Club America lost a play-in game against LAFC for the final spot in the FIFA Club World Cup, meaning the Mexican club will likely be without four players called up by El Tri next week instead of keeping them had they qualified for the Club World Cup … Captain Jeppe Tverskov was serving a one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation. Midfielder Alejandro Alvarado Jr. started in his place and nearly scored on a bicycle kick in the first half … Also out was injured right back Willy Kumado. Oscar Verhoeven started instead … SDFC is 7-0 this season when scoring first … SDFC now has nine goals in the final 15 minutes of games this season.
