San Diego FC will face off against LAFC on Saturday night. Last year, the two San Diego FC vs. LAFC matches were two of the funnest matches I had attended, and both were very exciting games that ended in favor of San Diego FC. This time, however, San Diego FC is on the heels of a five-game losing streak, and LAFC is competing in the Champions Cup. This raises the question: will LAFC take this match seriously, or will they punt this match for the second leg in the Champions Cup against Toluca?
Last Season, San Diego played a hard-fought 3-2 match for the win at home. Goals were scored by Chris McVey, Onni Valakari, and Alex Mighten, all in the first half. With a 3-0 lead, though, LAFC scored two goals within minutes of each other by Artem Smoliakov and Cengiz Ünder right before the end of the first half. In the second half, San Diego was able to close the match out by continuing to pressure LAFC’s backline by keeping possession, recording 8 shots with 2 on goal, and maintaining possession in the opponent’s side of the pitch for half of the time.
San Diego would then play LAFC in Los Angeles in August for Son Heung-min’s home debut. LAFC started out hot with a goal in the first 15 minutes of the match, but then it was Chucky Lozano who knotted that match up at 1-1 in the 33rd minute. In the second half, Anders Dreyer scored one of the best goals I’ve ever seen him score in person, taking out a couple of defenders with a cut-back and shoot motion that helped score the game-winner and seal the victory. After the match, Dreyer famously said that SDFC wanted to “Kill The Party” away from Son’s debut.
This Season, LAFC is currently third in the Western Conference with a 6-2-2 record (20 points). This is a team that started off hot and went undefeated in their first 6 matches, but in their last 4 matches, they are 1-1-2. San Diego and LAFC have each scored 17 goals, with shots on target for LAFC at 46 and SDFC at 44. LAFC leads the league with 6 goals from outside the box and are 7th in outside-the-box shooting with 45. Additionally, LAFC has produced the most shots with 23 during counter-attacks. LAFC is also 7th in key short passes with 85. On the goalkeeping side, Hugo Lloris is having the best start of the season for a goalkeeper; Lloris has the highest save percentage at 88.2% and has 8 clean sheets out of 10 matches during league play. Lloris is also 4th in goals prevented with 4, trailing leader Matt Turner, who has 8. LAFC is also 6th in tackles with 167 and 7th in shots blocked with 41.
As for who is showing up at Snapdragon, LAFC’s next match against Toluca is on Wednesday night in Mexico. It is very unlikely that LAFC will have their regular starters play on Saturday night against San Diego. The first leg against Toluca featured their regulars, except for Denis Bouanga, who was suspended for that match. Son Heung-Min, Timothy Tillman, Nkosi Tafari, Ryan Porteous, Sergi Palencia, and Marco Delgado all played a full 90 minutes. In the match right before Toluca against Minnesota United, Son did not play nor was he on the bench; David Martinez played 60 minutes and Aaron Long played a half. In that match, LAFC got off to an early lead with a David Martinez goal in the 9th minute and decided to play defense the rest of the match. The Loons had the ball 62% of the time, had 23 shots with 4 on target, and lost the match 1-0 to LAFC.
A heavily rotated lineup is expected for LAFC. Nathan Ordaz is expected to start up front for LAFC; Ordaz has played over 500 minutes this year with two goals across all competitions. The 22-year-old has 12 goals and 8 assists across all competitions in four seasons with LAFC. Another player who should have more of a role in this match is local kid Jude Terry from Chula Vista, CA. Terry is 17 years old and in his first season with LAFC playing actual minutes. So far, Terry has scored one goal in 5 matches played across all competitions. There is a possibility that Denis Bouanga plays since he did not play on Wednesday, but it all depends on how many minutes head coach Marc Dos Santos will want to play his regulars with a big match upcoming against Toluca.
San Diego FC is really having a tough time with injuries. As discussed on the latest Chromaniacs episode (the episode above), Jeppe Tverskov will be out for Saturday’s match, and it is feared that he will be out for the next 5 weeks heading into the World Cup break. This is a huge blow for San Diego FC as Jeppe Tverskov leads the league in touches and passes and is the captain for this team. In this system, everything goes through Tverskov as he knows the play style well and can play different roles when needed. In his top Goals Added” categories, Jeppe Tverskov is one of the top players in progressive passes and own-danger-zone defensive actions. This makes sense because, on the attacking side, he contributes by passing the ball forward and kickstarting the attack. Defensively, he plays a position that needs him to track back when the other team has the ball and moves towards his own penalty area.
Now, San Diego FC will need Anibal Godoy to be a key figure in this team and be the player that the ball can pass through up and down the field. San Diego will also need one of their young midfielders to step up for the moment in either Pedro Soma, David Vazquez, or Alejandro Alvarado. There’s also a chance that Manu Duah could be moved back into a midfield role, but that is only if Ian Pilcher or Andres Reyes are healthy to take the other center-back role. San Diego FC has their hands full on Saturday, and with Jeppe’s injury, LAFC will be much more difficult to handle.
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