San Diego FC recently hosted their rivals from up north, LAFC, in a high-stakes match where SDFC looked to stop the recent bleeding and secure at least a point. LAFC utilized a rotated lineup with an eye on their upcoming Champions Cup match on Wednesday, though they kept Son Heung-Min and David Martinez on the bench as insurance. San Diego, meanwhile, was forced to play without captain Jeppe Tverskov, who is recovering from a lower-body injury that may sideline him until after the World Cup. This was a notable shift, marking the first time in league play that Tverskov did not start a match since being out against Austin FC due to yellow card accumulation.
San Diego was immediately on the front foot, attacking with a head full of steam. By the third minute, Anders Dreyer set up David Vazquez with a pass off a short corner kick; Vazquez’s close-range shot was saved and recovered by Hugo Lloris. SDFC earned another corner in the 7th minute on the far side, where Dreyer delivered an inswinger that found Marcus Ingvartsen for a header into the back of the net, giving San Diego an early 1-0 lead.
For the rest of the half, the teams moved the ball back and forth, but San Diego remained in control. SDFC finished the half with 6 shots, including 2 on target and an even split of 3 shots each inside and outside the box, while LAFC was held to just one shot. Possession sat at 64% for San Diego, supported by 189 passes in the opposition’s half. Encouraging chances continued to flow, including a Luca Bombino interception that led to a pass to Ingvartsen, whose shot went way off the mark. Later, David Vazquez sent a cross from the far side targeting Ingvartsen in the penalty area, but the striker was just a step behind and couldn’t reach the pass.
LAFC increased their intensity to start the second half, subbing in David Martinez for Nathan Ordaz and Mark Delgado for Jude Terry. Seeking a second goal, Vazquez had a wide shot inside the penalty area, though it was a tough attempt as he had to turn while on the run to try to get it on target. In the 60th minute, LAFC signaled their intent by subbing in Son Heung-Min for Ryan Raposo. San Diego made their own changes in the 67th minute, bringing on Lewis Morgan for Amahl Pellegrino and Ian Pilcher for Luca Bombino. Both Pellegrino and Bombino had dealt with injuries in April, and both appeared to signal to the bench to come out due to discomfort.
The match seemed to tilt further in San Diego’s favor in the 71st minute. As the ball was passed back to Hugo Lloris, he delivered a pass down the far side to Eddie Segura. Segura attempted to find Denis Bouanga, but Oscar Verhoeven was all over him to poach the ball away and kick it back the other direction. The ball fell to Anders Dreyer, who was left completely alone on the counter-attack. Dreyer carried it into the penalty area and passed centrally to Ingvartsen, who settled the ball and found the back post for his second goal of the night. This tandem has been highly effective; Dreyer now has 5 assists on the season (4 to Ingvartsen), while Ingvartsen has 7 goals. This duo is more than halfway to the 9 combined goals Dreyer and Hirving Lozano produced last season.
With a 2-0 lead and 20 minutes remaining, San Diego just needed to close the match out, but controversy struck in the 80th minute. After Anibal Godoy fouled Son a few yards from the penalty area, Son took the free kick. The ball went directly into the side of Godoy’s head, and because he went down with an apparent injury, the referee ruled that Godoy had to leave the match temporarily. Godoy was not happy, as he seemed fine and the ball may have simply hit his shoulder. With SDFC playing with 10 men, LAFC took full advantage; Son dribbled the ball on the far side into the penalty area and found Bouanga, who shot between goalkeeper Dos Santos and the near post to make it 2-1. Godoy likely would have been in a position to better defend that attack.
In the final minutes, Mikey Varas opted for a back five, subbing Wilson Eisner in for Ingvartsen. During the 9 minutes of added stoppage time, more controversy and injury followed. As Bouanga attempted a shot in the box, CJ Dos Santos made a diving stop on the ball. In the process, Bouanga kicked Dos Santos in the head, causing his nose to bleed. Dos Santos had to leave the match, and Duran Ferree came in as goalkeeper; both teams were granted an extra substitution due to the head injury, which LAFC used to bring on Artem Smoliakov for Kenneth Nielsen. This was an unfortunate turn of events as Dos Santos was making his first start since being kicked in the head at Portland for a November playoff start.
The equalizer came shortly after David Martinez recovered a long pass and won a corner kick off Wilson Eisner. Martinez delivered the ball into the penalty area, where it came off Matthieu Choiniere right to Ryan Hollingshead, who kicked it in to make it 2-2. The play was controversial, as Choiniere headed the ball down onto his own arm before it reached Hollingshead—a handball that should have been called. Hardly any review of the action was taken by VAR and the final whistle blew a few minutes later.
While the first half was a success, the second half saw San Diego manage only 2 shots compared to LAFC’s 8. SDFC also had only 5 touches in the opposition’s box while LAFC had 18, suggesting the team took their foot off the gas. San Diego now has an MLS-worst record of losing 7 points after the 75th minute this season. The team must learn to play a full 90 minutes and close out matches. Looking forward, the health of Bombino and Pellegrino remains a major factor, as does the goalkeeper situation; with Dos Santos and Pablo Sisniega potentially injured, SDFC may need to call up SuperDraft pick Kyle Durham. With 4 tough matches left before the break, figuring out if the roster is healthy enough to compete is now the top priority.
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