San Diego FC (SDFC) earned three points on the road with a 2-1 win over Chicago Fire FC at Soldier Field on Saturday night. Winger Anders Dreyer recorded a brace, scoring both goals in the first half off assists from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Luca Bombino. The win keeps SDFC at the top of the Western Conference standings.
Dreyer opened the scoring in the eighth minute, finishing a left-footed shot off a low cross from Bombino and a quick touch from Lozano to give SDFC a 1-0 lead. The Danish 2025 MLS All-Star doubled the advantage in first-half stoppage time, firing home a second goal from another Lozano cross to send San Diego into the break up 2-0. Chicago’s Hugo Cuypers pulled one back in the 87th minute to make it 2-1, but SDFC held firm in the closing moments to secure the win in the Club’s first-ever meeting with the Fire. Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega played a key role in preserving the result, making three crucial saves in his regular season debut for San Diego, including two late stops from close range.
SDFC now returns home for two matches at Snapdragon Stadium in the week, hosting Toronto FC on Wednesday, July 16, followed by the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, July 19. Kickoff for both matches is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage available on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, as well as English and Spanish radio broadcasts on San Diego Sports 760 AM and TUDN 1700 AM. Tickets are available at SanDiegoFC.com/Tickets.
Goal Scoring Plays:
SD 0-1 – Anders Dreyer (Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, Luca Bombino), 8th minute: Dreyer opened the scoring with a left-footed strike from just outside the six-yard box, finishing off a low, rolling cross from Luca Bombino that was redirected into his path by Hirving “Chucky” Lozano.
SD 0-2 – Anders Dreyer (Hirving Lozano, Luca Bombino), 45+3: Dreyer doubled the lead with another left-footed finish, slotting the ball past Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady off a pinpoint cross from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. The chance came on a breakaway, with Lozano sprinting up the left flank after receiving a long pass from Luca Bombino before delivering the assist.
CHI 1-2 – Hugo Cuypers (Maren Haile- Selassie), 88th minute: Chicago pulled one back through Hugo Cuypers, who made a run into the six-yard box and converted a low cross from Maren Haile-Selassie with a right-footed finish inside the right post, beating SDFC goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega.
Postgame Notes:
- With today's 2-1 win against the Chicago Fire, SDFC earned its 13th win in club history.
- SDFC is now 13-6-3 with 42 points through 22 games this season and currently sits in first place in the Western Conference standings.
- SDFC is now 1-1-1 against Eastern Conference rivals this season. Today marked the Club’s first win against an Eastern Conference opponent.
- SDFC is now 7-4-0 on the road this season.
- SDFC has 24 goals on the road in 2025.
- SDFC is now 10-1-0 when scoring first.
- Luca Bombino, who made his 15th start for the Club and registered his second and third assists tonight on both of Ander Dreyer’s goals.
- Dreyer scored his 10th and 11th goals of the season. He is the team’s leading scorer.
- Dreyer now has 26 goal contributions (11 goals, 15 as sists), tied for the fifth most by a player in his club’s first 22 games of a season in league history.
- The Danish 2025 MLS All-Star leads MLS in assists with 15.
- Dreyer now has three braces this season (Feb. 23 at LA Galaxy, June 14 at Minnesota and July 12 at Chicago).
- Dreyer has had multiple goal contributions in seven matches: Feb. 23 at LA Galaxy (2 goals), May 3 vs. FC Dallas (1 goals, 2 assist), May 14 vs. Colorado (1 goal,1 assist), June 14 at Minnesota United (2 goals, 1 assist), June 25 at Vancouver (3 assists), June 28 at FC Dallas (1 goal, 2 assists), Jul. 12 at Chicago (2 goals).
- Forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano made his first start since coming back from a lower leg injury on May 31. He appeared off the bench in SDFC’s last two matches (at FC Dallas on June 28 and vs. Houston Dynamo on July 5).
- Lozano assisted both of Dreyer’s goals tonight, bringing his season total to 15 goal contributions (6 goals, 9 assists).
- Defender Christopher McVey registered his 99th MLS regular season appearance tonight. Overall, McVey has 100 MLS appearances across all competitions including MLS Playoffs.
- Defender Chris McVey started and played the full 90 minutes in tonight’s match, bringing his total to 2,190 minutes through San Diego FC’s first 22 MLS regular season games. McVey is now the only SDFC player to have played every single minute this season.
- 19-year-old defender Oscar Verhoeven made his eighth start for SDFC, his eighth appearance with the Club and his 17th MLS career appearance.
- Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega made his MLS regular season debut for SDFC. His last MLS appearance came on March 11, 2023, when he played for Charlotte FC against Atlanta United.
- Sisniega had his first three regular season saves with SDFC and MLS tonight.
- Midfielder Luca De La Torre returned to action with SDFC, starting for the first time since leaving for national team (USMNT) duty after SDFC’s 2-0 win against Austin FC on May 31.
- SDFC was without seven players tonight: CJ Dos Santos, Willy Kumado, Anisse Saidi, Marcus Ingvartsen, Aníbal Godoy, Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (on MLS Season-Ending Injury List) and Andres Reyes (on MLS Season-Ending Injury List).
Next Game
SDFC will now return home to face Toronto FC on Wednesday, July 16 and the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, July 19 at Snapdragon Stadium. Kickoff for both matches is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV, as well as English and Spanish radio broadcasts on San Diego Sports 760 AM and TUDN 1700 AM.
Match Information
2025 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC (13-6-3, 42 pts) vs. Chicago Fire FC (8-9-4, 28 pts)
Saturday, July 12, 2025 – Soldier Field (Chicago, Ili.)
Scoring Summary:
SD (0-1) - Anders Dreyer (Assisted by Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, Luca Bombino), 8’
SD (0-2) - Anders Dreyer (Assisted by Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, Luca Bombino), 45+3
CHI (1-2) - Hugo Cuypers (Assisted by Maren Haile-Selassie), 87’
Misconduct Summary:
SD - Onni Valakari (caution, 2’)
CHI – Mauricio Pineda (caution, 30’)
SD – Emmanuel Boateng (caution, 82’)
CHI – Brian Gutierrez (caution 90+6)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK Pablo Sisniega; D Paddy McNair (Ian Pilcher, 46’), D Oscar Verhoeven, D Christopher McVey, D Luca Bombino (Franco Negri, 90+1); M Onni Valakari, M Jeppe Tverskov -C-, M Luca De La Torre; F Anders Dreyer, F Hirving “Chucky” Lozano (Alex Mighten, 58’), F Tomás Ángel (Emmanuel Boateng, 81’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Jacob Jackson, M Manu Duah, D Jasper Löffelsend, F Milan Iloski, F Alex Mighten, D Hamady Diop.
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 0; SAVES; 3
CHICAGO FIRE FC: GK Chris Brady, D Leonardo Barroso (Johnny Dean, 66’), D Jack Elliott -C-, D Sam Rogers (Tom Barlow, 86’), D Andrew Gutman, D Philip Zinckernagel (Maren Halie-Selassie, 72’), M Brian Gutierrez, M Jonathan Bamba, M Mauricio Pineda (Dje D’Avilla 71’), M Sergio Oregel Jr. (Rominigue Kouame, 46’), F Hugo Cuypers
Substitutes Not Used: GK Jeffrey Gal, M Kellyn Acosta, D Omari Glasgow, D Omar Gonzalez
TOTAL SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 2
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Eduardo Jeff
Fourth Official: Joshua Encarnacion
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Tom Supple
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 81-degrees,
Attendance: 27,631
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On bouncing back from defeat last week and being able to refocus:
“What I told the boys before the game was, this is a group that always responds. They respond to feedback, they respond to setbacks, they respond to challenges. And I think the attitude of the group is just so unified, you know, it's so united. And I think that's the main thing, is that we don't let little hiccups become a big deal, you know, we look in the mirror, and then we are ready to move on. And these guys gave everything tonight.”
On defensive performance by young players such as Oscar Verhoeven and Luca Bombino:
“You could see the team, you know, all the players were spent on the field. They gave every last drop of energy and effort that they had within them. And we're a club that we believe in young players, we believe that in development, and these guys have had opportunities, and they've really risen to the challenge. They haven't been perfect, but nothing is perfect in life, and the most important thing is they got a great growth mindset, and they're competitive guys, and to take feedback on, well, I thought, from a personal standpoint, especially for, you know, it was a great bounce back, just individual performance for him.”
On his post-match conversation with Chicago coach Gregg Berhalter:
“I just told him it was, what a fun game that was, you know, both teams taking initiative. They pressed us really bravely. They're well coached. And then I thanked him for everything he's done for me, because, you know, he's one of the main reasons why I've made the steps that I've made. He was a great mentor for me, and he took a chance on me with the men's national team, and I'll forever be grateful for that.”
On the difference between first and second half:
“Two-zero is always a tough score, because the opponent feels that they're close, right? And if they get a goal, things can change. So, they were still really pressing with a lot of intensity. And then what presents is when you break, when you break through that press, there's opportunities to go fast to goal, and I think just it's difficult to manage how to when to finish those breakthroughs and really go for that third one, when to take the extra passes to really subdue the opponent. And at the end of the day, I think we also got tired, because these guys gave everything. I mean, they ran so hard for the entire game against a team that was also playing with a ton of intensity and initiative, and that's what happens at the highest level. Man, you do, you play against a good team, and you're going to have to solve for the moments. And these guys were able to suffer together in the moments that they needed to suffer, but they also had tremendous quality in the night, making some fantastic build ups and some fantastic presses.”
[Translated from Spanish]
On goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega in his SDFC debut:
“Pablo is a great person, first and foremost. Secondly, he is a great leader. He trains to the fullest. He hadn’t played any minutes other than the friendly against (Club) América but he always trains to the fullest. He is the example of being a great teammate and it’s no surprise he was ready when he needed to play. He made some great plays for us tonight.”
SDFC GOALKEEPER PABLO SISNIEGA
On his first SDFC start tonight:
“It was a very intense match. I mean, we know that coming and playing in Chicago is always going to be hard recording in progress. So it was, it was a very difficult challenge, but I think the whole team stepped up to the challenge. And for me personally, I was obviously very happy to get to start. Obviously, comes in bad circumstances, because you never wish an injury upon a teammate, obviously, CJ (Dos Santos) had the injury, but like I said, I'm happy that I got a chance to play, and I'm happy that the team got the win.”
On making saves in this match:
“I think that we just work really well in the goalkeeping department. I think that the goalkeepers that are here, CJ (Dos Santos), Jacob (Jackson) and I, all push each other in training, and Jason (Grubb, Goakeeper Coach) has also done a great job with us of getting everybody ready so that when we have a chance to come in, we can perform the style that the team asked us to play. So, I think that for me, it was just like what we do in training. And in training, we plotted the back and training, we do all these things. So, it was just applying those concepts in the game, and I felt good doing it.”
On comparing tonight to playing in a friendly vs. Club América:
“Yeah, I think the América game was great for me to get 90 minutes under my belt and just to get that, that experience of playing again, because obviously when you're not playing, it's difficult, but I try to prepare myself every week like I can play. Obviously, it might not be the case, but I always prepare myself for the best, and I think that it showed today, that when, when preparation meets an opportunity, then good things can happen, you know.”
[Translated from Spanish]
On what it means to start for SDFC for the first time:
“It’s a very special moment for me. I have been working now for six months and I am very happy to be able to make my official debut with San Diego and because the team was able to get a very difficult win on the road.”
SDFC DEFENDER LUCA BOMBINO
On his role in a hard-fought match and his two assists:
“It was a hard-fought game, and there were some moments where we had to suffer. But I think overall, we played our style for the majority of the match in it. It put us in a position where going into the second half, we just had to lock it down and control the ball. And I think we did a good job. We just have to find a little more structure and balance in the in the final moments of the game to make the endings more clear, but overall, really good, really happy for the team. Good result away.”
On what this week was leading up to the match:
“Going into this week of training it was about registering, releasing, and refocusing, we focus on that a lot at the club, with the mental side of performance. It was about learning from our mistakes and going back to our values and just putting our heads down in training to prepare us for this game. I feel that you can see that in our performance it was us reverting back to our style of play. Really happy for the guys, we bounced back really well, and we have to keep it going, going into a three-game week.”
On the mentally of being able to dig deep with effort:
“Going into each game i know i give all i can for as long as i can and i know if my body doesn't let me do that anymore i think the next guy up can do the job. Franco (Negri) did a great job coming into the game and sealing the victory, I am really happy for him. The entire back line, Ian Pilcher, came on in the second half and did a great job. I’m really happy for those guys and happy of the group overall.”
