SDFC concedes first-half goal in final regular season home match
San Diego FC (SDFC) fell 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes at Snapdragon Stadium in its final home match of the 2025 MLS Regular Season. With the result, SDFC closes out its inaugural regular season at home with a 7-5-5 record ahead of its final two road fixtures.
San Jose secured the lead in the 14th minute when Josef Martínez finished a pass from Cristian Arango inside the box. Despite SDFC controlling possession for much of the match and creating late chances, the Earthquakes held on to preserve the shutout in the clubs’ second meeting of the year.
SDFC now shifts its focus to its last two matches of the regular season, beginning with a visit to Houston Dynamo at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 4 (5:30 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, San Diego Sports 760 AM in English, and TUDN 1700 AM in Spanish). The Club will then close out its inaugural campaign on the road against the Portland Timbers on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Providence Park (6:00 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, San Diego Sports 760 AM in English, and TUDN 1700 AM in Spanish).
Goal Scoring plays:
SJ – 0-1- Josef Martinez (Cristian Arango) 14th minute: Martínez received a pass from Arango inside the penalty area and fired a left-footed shot past SDFC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos, beating four defenders to score the match’s lone goal.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight’s 1-0 loss against San Jose Earthquakes, San Diego FC recorded its ninth loss in Club history and remains atop the Western Conference standings tied with Vancouver Whitecaps with 57 points and a 17-9-6 record.
- SDFC is 7-5-5 at home this season.
- SDFC has an 8-6-0 record in 1-0 matches this season.
- SDFC is 5-8-2 when allowing first goal.
- SDFC is 15-7-4 against Western Conference teams this season
- SDFC dominated possession, holding 63% of the ball compared to San Jose’s 37%.
- SDFC had 676 passes completed compared to San Jose’s 231.
- SDFC continues to lead the league in passes completed with 19,294.
- Designated player Anders Dreyer has started all 32 MLS Regular season matches this season.
- Defender Manu Duah made his 10th MLS start and 11th appearance for SDFC. He has a total of 15 appearances with the Club across all competitions. He also appeared in three 2025 Leagues Club matches.
- Forward Amahl Pellegrino made his third MLS start and fifth appearance for SDFC tonight. He was on the 18-man roster for the fifth-straight time after being acquired last month.
- Defender Christopher McVey became the third SDFC player to have 30 or more starts this season (Anders Dreyer 32 and Jeppe Tverskov 31).
- Defender Aiden Harangi returned to action tonight making his third start for SDFC and in MLS. He last started Aug. 17 against the San Jose Earthquakes when he had to leave the match in the 38th minute with an upper body injury. Harangi was back in the 18-man roster last week against Atlanta United.
- SDFC was without defender Luca Bombino, goalkeeper Duran Ferree and midfielder Pedro Soma as all three players are on national team duty with the U.S. Under-20 for the 2025 FIFA World Cup taking place in Chile from Sept. 27-Oct. 19.
Next Match
SDFC will travel to face the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, Oct. 4 at Shell Energy Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, San Diego Sports 760 AM (English), and TUDN 1700 AM (Spanish).
Match Information
2025 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC (17-9-6, 57 pts) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (10-14-8, 38 pts)
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 – Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, Calif.)
Scoring Summary:
SJ (0-1) - Josef Martinez (Assisted by Cristian Arango) 14’
Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Ronaldo Vieira (caution, 71’)
SJ- Ousseni Bouda (caution, 83’)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK CJ Dos Santos; D Christopher McVey, D Manu Duah, D Aiden Harangi (Willy, 72’), D Ian Pilcher (Franco Negri, 72’); M Onni Valakari, M Jeppe Tverskov –C–, M Aníbal Godoy (Luca De La Torre, 63’); F Anders Dreyer, F Amahl Pellegrino (Alex Mighten, 63’), F Hirving “Chucky” Lozano (David Vazquez, 82)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Pablo Sisniega, D Paddy McNair, F Emmanuel Boateng, F Corey Baird.
TOTAL SHOTS: 19; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 8; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 10; SAVES; 1
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: GK Daniel; D Daniel Munie, D Reid Roberts, D Max Floriani, M Ian Harkes, M Cristian Arango (Vitor Acosta, 68’), M Cristian Espinoza –C–(Dave Romney, 87’), M Ousseni Bouda, M Ronaldo Vieira Beau Leroux, 82’), M Benji Kikanovic (Preston Judd, 68’); F Josef Martinez (Noel Buck, 81’)
Substitutes Not Used: D Bruno Wilson, M Mark-Anthony Kaye, D Nick Lima, M, GK Earl Edwards Jr.
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES 0; CORNER KICKS: 2; SAVES: 3
Referee: Armando Villareal
Assistant Referees: Jose Da Silva, Justin Howard
Fourth Official: Gerald Flores
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
AVAR: Robert Schaap
Weather: 70-degrees, clear
Attendance: 29,437
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On the frustrations of tonight's match:
“Just really disappointed not to get the three points. At home for the fans, they were great, as usual. We can feel their support so clearly. But I think at the end of the day, if we take that game picture, we'll take that game picture more often than not. Not the result, but I think we have two point something xG [expected goals], they have point something, you know, and you lose the game. So, you are kind of left wondering. It comes down to details, little details. Finishing quality, concentration in moments during counter attacks and these are the kind of games that I think teams are going to play us in playoffs here, because they show a lot of respect. So, it's good that it's happening now, and that we're taking these lumps to from a growth mindset perspective of like, okay, it's not big things that need to change, but what little things to each one of us, including me, have to add in these final weeks to make sure we hit playoffs in best conditions when we can see a game like this, because that game could also open up into a rout for us, right? If we have, the quality in the final actions. But it comes down to details, and right now, we know all of us will be putting our heads together and look in the mirror to discover what little things we can do to make sure we hit our stride. Because if we hit our stride, I think we're going to be quite dangerous.”
On the team's recent struggles at home:
“I think teams come and play us in tough, tough conditions, right? They try to play a really close game, catch you in the counterattack, slow the game down, chop it up, wasting time. This is something we're starting to see be pretty predictable. We can pretty much tell the referee from the beginning it's going to happen. We hope that they manage the spirit of the game and give yellow cards a little bit earlier in the game to keep the game sped up for the good of the game, whether we win or lose, I believe that. But it's a strategy that some of these opponents have, and that's valid strategy if that's what they want to do. And it's a referee's job to manage the game. And then when you play those kind of games and you don't take your chances, then you leave the door open for not getting the results, and that's just where we're at right now. But it's not that the team is playing bad at home. We create a lot of chances. We dominate large portions of the game. We don't give up a lot of chances. Usually, you take all of those ingredients in a game. But the most important thing right now is to maintain calm, know that we're a good team. We have good players. We work really hard and finding that little extra that we need to make sure that we turn these into not just good, statistically speaking, performances, but wins.”
If the thought of a California Sweep provided any extra motivation:
“Yeah, obviously regional rivalries. We want to win those, but we want to win every single game. Yeah, we missed on one. I hope nobody takes for granted, the fact that we won all the other ones. That's not easy to do. The most important thing like I said, is to regroup from this game and see what little details we can fix to make sure we're hitting playoffs in our stride.”
SDFC WINGER ANDERS DREYER
On the team's struggles to find the back of the net tonight:
“Yeah, I think we created enough to get a point, but also to win the game. I think it was a very good beginning of the game, big chance for Chucky [Hirving Lozano]. We just created a lot and then they had a counter and they scored. Then of course we know the games will be tough when we play an opponent who comes to our stadium, because they want to sit back and they don't care if they have to sit with six guys in the back, or whatever. Then we still created chances, it didn't want to go in and we lost 1-0.”
On the recent struggles at home:
"Yeah it's a long time since we won at home, we know it in the dressing room as well. I hope it's because we save it for playoffs. We know there are small things, but it's still so small things, I think if we get the first goal today, again it's a completely different game, and it's the same against Minnesota as well. So, we had some tough games here and I think also it shows that the teams who come here, they respect us a lot and the way we play, and yeah, they make it difficult for us, but we still have the chances to win. I think, I don't know how high our xG [expected goals] are today, but I think it's high, and should be enough to win, also after getting behind.”
On if they are learning anything from how teams are playing them ahead of the playoffs:
“Yeah, no, like I said before, I think it shows that the teams, they really respect us in the way we play. And then I haven't tried it yet, but I can imagine that MLS Playoffs is totally different. It's different games, I know the first round is best of three, and then it's knockout games. So, it will be a different vibe and a different way of controlling a game. And yeah, then hopefully we will take a win in the first game in playoffs at home and turn it around. I think that's what we're working for and just amazing with the support. We know they are behind us. So, yeah, it's just the small things and I think in the beginning of the game, before their goal, we even had chances to make it 1-0, or 2-0, then I think the game is close to done.”
SDFC MIDFIELDER JEPPE TVERSKOV
On tonight’s match and difficulty of finishing:
“I think it’s the last part that is annoying for us today. I think we solved it better today, actually, than we did in the away game against San Jose and we ended up winning. I felt like we broke them through, not easy but we did quite well phase one and then phase two but it seems like every time we got near the goal our finishing lacked quality, which hasn’t been the case in the season, so, seems like one off. But today we didn’t get the goal and then sometimes it’s the goal that is going to open up the game for us.”
On not winning at home in two months and what are the factors:
“We know. We are aware that it's been some time since last win. I feel like a lot of the performances we have been playing here on the pitch has been quite good. I think today also we play quite fine. We control most of the game. We control most of their transitions. But we also got to admit that we have to be tougher. It's a goal out of nothing, and we need to be able to stop those counters easier. Because, yeah, we have the game in our hand. So yeah, as a footballer, you always look at look at games, especially also when you lose, and kind of think of, what did wrong? What did we do good and I feel like there's still a lot of things we did good today, even though we don't score the goals, and that's also why we are. We have our heads high, but of course, we need to win the games, and that's also something we talked in the locker rooms now that like we need to cut off, yeah, these mistakes that that makes us get behind because games gets more difficult.”
On his message to the fans as the team heads into the playoffs:
“First of all, we are extremely happy that it's not our last game with all the fans. Today is the perfect example of how incredible they have been the whole season. We are behind 1-0 at home last game and we hear them the whole game. We hear them after game chanting our names and we've been hearing them on all their way trips, both on our hotels and on the games which we also see playing at home that that not every team travels to away game. So yeah, we are very blessed to have all of us players are very blessed to have landed in a football city. You can definitely feel that. So, for us, the message will be that we need them even more. Now, when we go into playoffs, these games are going to be incredibly important, and especially fighting for having the home games is big. So yeah, we need to take advantage. And if we can get the whole stadium to bounce, it's going to be better for us. That’s the message.”
