SAN DIEGO (Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026) – San Diego FC (SDFC) played to a 1-0 loss against Orlando City SC at Inter.co Stadium in the first-ever meeting between the clubs, snapping SDFC’s two-match win streak in MLS play. Orlando’s Antoine Griezmann scored the lone goal of the night in the 28th minute in SDFC’s first visit to central Florida.
Griezmann sent in the game-winner when he moved past defenders to the center of the box where he sent in a right-footed shot on a pass from Justin Ellis, beating an SDFC pressing defense.
SDFC will now return to Snapdragon Stadium for a two-match home stretch, beginning with a California Rivalry matchup against the San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. PT. SDFC will then host the Philadelphia Union on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 6:00 p.m. PT for Hispanic Heritage Night, with the first 25,000 fans in attendance receiving a complimentary cowboy hat courtesy of DIRECTV.
Goal Scoring Plays:
ORL – 1-0 – Antoine Griezmann (Justin Ellis, Daryl Dike), 28th minute: Griezmann sent in a right-footed shot from near the middle of the penalty box after Ellis found him wide open with a pass between three defenders.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight’s loss against Orlando City SC, SDFC suffered its second loss in its last seven matches across all competitions.
- SDFC now has a 8-9-6 record in the 2026 MLS Regular Season with 30 points.
- SDFC is 3-3-3 All-Time against Eastern Conference teams.
- SDFC is 1-1-1 against Eastern Conference teams this season.
- Tonight's match marked the 57th MLS Regular Season match for SDFC and the Club now holds a 27-18-11 all-time MLS Regular Season record.
- SDFC is now 12-12-6 across all competitions in 2026 (MLS Regular Season 8-9-6, Concacaf Champions Cup 2-2-0, Leagues Cup 2-1-0).
- SDFC remains at 131 goals scored across all competitions (MLS, Leagues Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup).
- Tonight, marks only the third time SDFC does not score a goal this MLS season.
- SDFC is 2-6-3 on the road in MLS this season.
- SDFC has allowed 18 goals on the road this season.
- SDFC is 0-8-3 when allowing the first goal this MLS season.
- With tonight’s start, midfielder Onni Valakari made his 71st appearance for SDFC across all competitions.
- Midfielder Gabriel Pirani made his 6th appearance (5th start) in MLS Regular Season. Overall, he has registered seven appearances (8 starts) in all competitions.
- Defender Ian Murphy made his 5th start for SDFC and his 6th MLS appearance tonight.
- Goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos recorded three saves tonight in his 10th MLS start this season.
- Midfielder Aníbal Godoy wore the team captain armband tonight and made his 270th MLS Career appearance (including post season).
- Midfielder Alejandro Alvarado Jr. made his 10th overall MLS start tonight, filling in for the suspended Jeppe Tverskov.
- Tverskov missed the match while serving a red card suspension.
Match Information
2026 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC at Orlando City SC
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026 – Inter.co Stadium (Orlando, Fla.)
Scoring Summary:
ORL – 1-0 – Antoine Griezmann (Assisted by Justin Ellis and Daryl Dike), 28’
Misconduct Summary:
SD– David Vazquez (caution, 84’)
ORL – Luis Otavio (caution, 85’)
SD – Kieran Sargeant (caution, 90+4’)
ORL – David Brekalo (90+8’)
ORL – Ivan Angulo (90+9’)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK CJ Dos Santos; D Oscar Verhoeven (Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, 62’), D Kieran Sargeant, D Ian Murphy (Christopher McVey, 62’), D Manu Duah; M Aníbal Godoy -C-, M Gabriel Pirani (Bryce Duke, 90+3), M Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (Amahl Pellegrino, 62’); F Onni Valakari (David Vazquez, 79’), F Elias Achouri, F Anders Dreyer.
Substitutes Not Used: GK Duran Ferree, F Alex Mighten, D Ian Pilcher, F Bryan Zamblé
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 3
ORLANDO CITY: GK Maxime Crepeau; D David Brekalo, D Robin Jansson -C-, D Griffin Dorsey, D Bernardo Rhein (Martin Ojeda, 51’); M Eduard Atuesta (Marco Pasalic, 75’), M Joran Gerbet (Wilder Cartagena, 66’); F Antoine Griezmann, F Daryl Dike (Tyrese Spicer, 66’), M Justin Ellis (Luis Otavio, 75’), M Ivan Angulo
Substitutes Not Used: GK Javier Otero, M Tiago Souza, D Zakaria Taifi, D Iago Teodoro
TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES 0; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 2
Referee: Joe Dickerson
Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, Justin Howard
Fourth Official: Rodrigo Albuquerque
VAR: Daniel Radford
AVAR: Jess Muschik
Weather: 81-degrees, light rain
Attendance: 19,007
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
POSTGAME MEDIA ASSETS
Editorial, rights-free assets from Saturday's postgame media availability and match photos are available below:
- Photos available HERE
- Soundbites available HERE
- SDFC Head Coach Mikey Varas (English, Spanish)
- SDFC Defender Kieran Sargeant (English)
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On tonight’s match:
“Our performance didn't match our intentions, you know. And ultimately, it wasn't one of our better games. We all know that we can be much better than that. We we're a little bit sloppy in possession and with our positioning, which leads to just way too many transitions against a team that we all know that we could we could hurt a little bit more with verticality, and we weren't able to. And then what happens with these big transitions? You can see the group gets tired in tough conditions, humidity and heat, and we stop traveling together. And we're we look best when we have a whole team that's moving around the field together. And so, we need to get back with that. And then I'd say the last thing is we know that we can create more clear chances because not even playing our best, you know, I think there's still a draw up for grabs there if we can just find that magic that that we need to find. But the most important thing is to take those details as life giving us feedback. We need to turn it around very quickly, and we got to put together a winning performance in four days.”
On moving forward to upcoming matches:
“Yeah, right now we're on a mission. We're on a mission to put together our best performances, find that consistency, and accumulate points because we're at the business end of things in the league, and it's an important game. We'll take that game as a final, as we have all the ones up until now.”
SDFC DEFENDER KIERAN SARGEANT
On tonight’s match:
“I mean, not our best stuff tonight. I think there was stuff just managing the game, managing the flow, and you know, killing certain transitions that I think we should take better care of. But yeah, game in four days. So, the beauty of it, we have another opportunity to fix those mistakes and improve in the next three to four days before we go out again on Wednesday.”
On making a play at the goal line to keep the ball out:
“Yeah, I think all of us in the back line made some important saves. Whether it was tracking a ball down from transition or making a block, we all did a great job. And yeah, my play specifically, I think he just cut across in front of me, and I kind of knew he was going to kick it back at the goal, so I just tried to do my best to stick a leg out. And luckily, I got the block. But I think if I didn't, they would have been back there to make the block for me. So, yeah.”
On what Orlando did well to keep San Diego from doing what it wanted:
“Yeah, they have a lot of good players up front, a lot of rapid players and people that can get in behind pretty quickly, and then obviously playmakers that are underneath. So, yeah, I think it was just important for us. I think we'll learn from it to just be in positions to kind of pin them in, and you know, in a night where we're trying our best to create chances, just put ourselves in a position to limit theirs the best we can. And I think yeah, we'll look at that the next couple days and fix our mistakes there.”
