Historic season to sophomore slump: What is ailing San Diego FC? | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

What happened to San Diego FC?

It’s a loaded question. But the fact that many readers already have a reasonably clear idea of ‘San Diego FC’ as a meaningful concept just 15 months into the club’s on-field existence is a compliment to the Chrome-and-Azul’s quick work in crafting an identity, and validating it with not just the best-ever MLS expansion season, but in the slick aesthetics of a daring, ball-dominant style.

By finishing first in the Western Conference during their inaugural campaign with 63 points, reaching the Western Conference Final in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs, and starting the current campaign with jaw-droppingly impressive Concacaf Champions Cup performances vs. Mexican giants Pumas UNAM and Deportivo Toluca, San Diego set a ludicrously high bar for themselves out of the gates.

Nevertheless, San Diego have dipped well short of it for over a month now, lurching into the first soul-searching stretch of their brief history ahead of their Walmart Saturday Showdown visit from SoCal rivals LAFC (9:30 pm ET | Apple TV).

“Privilege problems, for sure,” said head coach Mikey Varas, taking an optimist’s approach in a conversation with MLSsoccer.com on Thursday afternoon.

“On a professional level, this has been one of the more beautiful challenges that I’ve faced. But when people say challenges, I think that they take a lot of negative connotation to it, and I look at it as something that's absolutely amazing.”

New challenges

Seemingly, everything that once went right for San Diego has gone sideways in recent weeks. They’re six games without a win since a 4-0 loss at Toluca on March 13 that eliminated them from CCC, including five straight defeats during a point-less April that’s sent them to 11th place in the West.

“Last year, the players went after every single game, left their heart and soul on the field, and a lot of those results went our way, by razor-thin margins,” said Varas. “And this year, they're going after every game – especially recently, we've gotten back to playing with leaving every single little bit of us on the field, and the results are going against us, on a razor-thin margin.”

The proverbial ConcaChampions hangover is a well-established MLS phenomenon. And opponents have accrued an extensive amount of scouting data with which to better prepare for San Diego's patterns of play – “we have been facing a little bit more man-v-man, high pressure,” noted striker Marcus Ingvartsen on Thursday. “It's more our level that has been dropping a little bit; we haven't been able to fix that first line of pressure.”

They’ve also been hamstrung by a whopping seven red cards across all competitions.

“There's never one thing,” Varas told reporters at his weekly media availability. “A lot of circumstances that have led to it. One, red-card situations leading to non-continuity of lineups; injury situations, same idea. Playing a lot of minutes with 10 players, having a shorter preparation in the preseason to get some really basic things really honed in. Dealing with the disappointment of playing two competitions and getting knocked out in a really tough competition

"… Also, the ability to maintain your level with rising expectations based on [last] season."

Tverskov's injury

The fatigue from fighting on two fronts – including two high-altitude tests in Mexico – took a tangible toll on a squad that lacks the backing of an MLS NEXT Pro team or even an Under-19 academy side.

So has an injury bug which claimed its costliest casualty so far this week: club captain and holding midfielder Jeppe Tverskov, the cerebral metronome of Varas’ intricate possession system.

The 2025 MLS All-Star limped off of their 2-1 loss against the Portland Timbers last weekend with a pained grimace, some 55 minutes after making an uncharacteristic error in buildup play that led to the visitors’ opening goal.

“Jeppe has suffered a lower-body injury, and he's going to be out for some time. We don't know exactly how long, but he won't be available this weekend,” Varas told MLSsoccer.com, pointing to savvy veteran and Panama international Aníbal Godoy as a leading candidate to fill the gap.

“This also presents an opportunity for other guys to step up, for Aníbal to really take control, take a leadership of the midfield and the team, and for the team to show this ‘next man steps up’ mentality that we've been developing since day one. And of course, we're gutted for Jeppe, because he's our guy and he's our friend, and he's our teammate, and he's a great leader.”

Chucky, still absent

Then there’s the elephant in the room – or more accurately, kept out of the room, but still on the premises: star Designated Player Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano.

The Mexican winger was declared not in the club’s plans during the winter after a reported conflict with leadership last fall, but has yet to move on to a different team and remains in individual training at the Sharp HealthCare Performance Center, occasionally posting about it on social media.

With the dramatic downturn in results, sectors of fans and media alike have wondered whether Chucky’s exile might be reevaluated. Varas has remained steadfast in his stance, though, centering the egalitarian culture he and sporting director Tyler Heaps have emphasized in their construction project.

The same goes for San Diego’s intricate game model, which Varas vows not to compromise on.

“What we set out to do,” he said, “is ambitious. We want to win now. We want to play our football, which is an exciting, high-risk football, and we want to develop players, especially young players. That's an ambitious, yet very worthwhile adventure to be on. And right now, we're in one of those moments where we're going through a lot of learning and we're struggling at times.

“That's only a failure if we don't take it with the most present and open minds, because ultimately, this could be one of the greatest gifts for us in the long run. Because if we manage this moment the right way, we should come out the other side much stronger than we entered it.”

Determined style

By using the ball to bait pressure and shift opponents’ shape, SDFC’s philosophy courts (and exploits) what conventional soccer wisdom would consider danger. That high-wire act can be all the more perilous against an elite transition side like LAFC, who, even in the midst of their own CCC tangle with Toluca, are expected to utilize dangerman Denis Bouanga after the Gabon international sat out Wednesday’s ConcaChampions semifinal Leg 1 victory due to caution accumulations.

Taking those risks is a feature, not a bug, and it will remain so for Saturday's Matchday 11 contest. San Diego are also fiercely proud to have swept all four matches against their two counterparts from Los Angeles last season, tapping into the city's sporting disdain for the metropolis to the north, and aim to go toe-to-toe with LAFC once again.

“The rivalry is real,” said Varas. “If you just think about the games and everything that happened surrounding the games with both LA teams last year, there's no doubt.”

Added star attacker Anders Dreyer, the 2025 MLS Newcomer of the Year: “It's the closest city to us, and there's two teams in LA that we compete against, and I think it's nice. That's also why it's maybe a game we’re looking forward to as well during the week … We’re just ready for it, and want to get a good result.”

Match Trailer | San Diego seek bounce-back vs. LAFC