San Diego FC (SDFC) suffered a 1-0 loss to Toronto FC at Snapdragon Stadium tonight, opening a three-match MLS regular season homestand. Despite the defeat, SDFC remains atop the Western Conference standings.
Toronto FC took the lead in the 20th minute when Theo Corbeanu converted a penalty, firing a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega into the upper-right corner. SDFC rallied late in search of an equalizer, applying sustained pressure in the final minutes, but the visitors held firm to secure the midweek win.
SDFC continues its homestand this Saturday, July 19, against Vancouver Whitecaps FC, followed by a matchup with Nashville SC on Friday, July 25. Kickoff for both matches is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, and English and Spanish radio broadcasts on San Diego Sports 760 AM and TUDN 1700 AM. Tickets for both matches are available at SanDiegoFC.com/Tickets.
Goal Scoring Plays:
TOR 0-1 – Theo Corbeanu (Penalty Kick), 20th minute: Corbeanu converted a penalty kick with a right-footed shot into the upper right corner of Pablo Sisniega’s goal to open up the scoring.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight’s 1-0 loss against Toronto FC, SDFC suffered its seventh loss in club history and its third loss at home.
- SDFC is now 13-7-3 with 42 points through 23 games this season and currently sits in first place in the Western Conference standings.
- SDFC is now 1-2-1 against Eastern Conference rivals this season.
- SDFC is now 6-3-3 at home this season.
- SDFC is 5-5-0 in one-goal games.
- SDFC is 3-6-1 when allowing a goal first.
- Defender Christopher McVey registered his 100th MLS regular season appearance tonight. Overall, McVey has 101 MLS appearances across all competitions including MLS Playoffs.
- McVey started and played the full 90 minutes in tonight’s match, bringing his total to 2,070 minutes through San Diego FC’s first 23 MLS regular season games. McVey is the only SDFC player to have played every single minute this season.
- SDFC was without seven players tonight: Willy Kumado, Anisse Saidi, Marcus Ingvartsen, Aníbal Godoy, Paddy McNair, Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (on MLS Season-Ending Injury List) and Andres Reyes (on MLS Season-Ending Injury List).
- Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega made his second consecutive start for SDFC. He made his regular season debut with the club on July 12 in a 2-1 win at Chicago Fire.
- Defender Franco Negri made his seventh start for SDFC tonight, his first since starting in SDFC’s 3-2 loss at Colorado Rapids on April 12.
- Tonight was the fourth time SDFC has been shutout this season and the first since a 1-0 loss at Seattle Sounders on May 28.
- SDFC continues to lead MLS in scoring with 46 goals despite being shut out tonight.
Next Game
SDFC will next host Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, July 19 as the Club celebrates Community Night at Snapdragon Stadium. Kickoff for the match 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 (13-7-3, 42 pts) vs. Toronto FC (5-11-6, 21 pts)
Wednesday, July 16, 2025 – Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, Calif.)
Scoring Summary:
TOR (0-1) - Theo Corbeanu (Penalty Kick), 20’
Misconduct Summary:
SD – Franco Negri (caution, 20’)
SD – Luca de la Torre (caution. 40’)
SD – Onni Valakari (caution, 45’)
TOR - Theo Corbeanu (caution, 45+3)
SD – Luca Bombino (caution, 65’)
SD – Ian Pilcher (caution, 90’)
SD – Emmanuel Boateng (caution, 90+2)
TOR - Alonso Coello (caution, 90+4)
TOR - Kosi Thompson (caution, 90+5)
TOR - Kevin Long (caution, 90+5)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK Pablo Sisniega; D Ian Pilcher, D Oscar Verhoeven (Manu Duah, 78’), D Christopher McVey, D Franco Negri (Luca Bombino,60’), M Onni Valakari, M Jeppe Tverskov -C-, M Luca de la Torre; F Anders Dreyer, F Alex Mighten (Emmanuel Boateng, 60’), F Tomás Ángel (Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, 60’),
Substitutes Not Used: GK CJ Dos Santos, GK Jacob Jackson, D Hamady Diop
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; FOULS: xx; OFFSIDES: 4; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES; 1
TORONTO FC: GK Sean Johnson -C-; D Kevin Long, D Kosi Thompson, D Sigurd Rosted, D Richie Laryea, D Raoul Petretta (Tyrese Spicer, 31’); M Matty Longstaff (Jonathan Osorio, 74’), M Alonso Coello, M Maxime Dominguez; F Theo Corbeanu (Derrick Etienne Jr., 69’), F Ola Brynhildsen (Deandre Kerr, 69’)
Substitutes Not Used: D Kobe Franklin, M Markus Cimermancic, D Lazar Stefanovic, Gk Adisa De Rosario, GK Luka Gavran
TOTAL SHOTS: 5; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: xx; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES: 1
Referee: Alyssa Pennington
Assistant Referees: Cameron Blanchard,
Jeremy Hanson
Fourth Official: Allen Chapman
VAR: Michael Radchuk
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson
Weather: Sunny, 68-degrees
Attendance: 23,514
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On the team’s performance tonight:
“I mean, we lost, so we're all disappointed, and we know that we didn't play our best. We weren't so sharp on the ball, and we know we're a lot better than that as a team, and we know also that we always face an opponent here who's going to give their best, who are really hungry, based on where we're at, everybody's very motivated. So, at the end of the day, it's just looking in the mirror knowing that it wasn't good enough. And I'm the first one to do that.”
On consistency of VAR:
“I think the referees did their best. I think they give their best effort, whatever mistakes we all make or don't make, that's life. But I think that they're trying to do their best, and didn't go our way tonight.”
On if he saw the potential handball on Hirving “Chucky” Lozano’s shot late in the match and view on officiating:
“I've seen it, and I don't know. Have you seen it? Listen, I think I could sit here and talk about officiating. I could talk about, I can talk about all the things that went against us tonight, or that we feel went against us, but at the end of the day, we weren't good enough tonight, we know that. We know, no matter what is outside of our control that doesn't go our way, that what we can control is our performance. And all of us know that we could play better than that, and now it's an opportunity to bounce back in three days. We can't dwell on this for too long. It's about being upset tonight and then showing up tomorrow, healing a bit, and turning the page quickly. Because we got a team coming here who's going to be looking for four points, you know, like every other team does. So, we'll be ready to go on Saturday.”
On what Toronto did to make it a tough match:
“Toronto, basically Man-Man marked, and they left a plus one on the back line and then minus one in their front line. So, the game was for our center backs to build a little bit because everybody else was pretty much landmarked. And we didn't realize that they would do that because what we're learning here is that no matter what a team does against other opponents, they'll have very specific game plans against us. So that's why we focus a lot on principles. We focus a lot on just our identity, our style of play, and we feel like we can find solutions to the game within that. So I think that kind of caught us a little bit, got the players a little bit in, in a position where they had to adapt a little bit the first half, but then we started gaining rhythm, and then we give up a goal, you know, against the run of play, where, you know, even if we don't score tonight, we know that if we're tidier on the ball in passes, that we're usually good at and that we're a little bit more collective in that, you know, that defensive transition, then we can leave here, 0-0, I thought the guys did a great job of adjusting in the second half. We tweaked a little bit our shape, and we really pushed them deeper and deeper. But overall, now the focus is on just taking whatever little learnings we can take from this and apply it to the next game, because they come fast now. So again, there's no point in dwelling for too long. You just look in the mirror own it. Move on.”
SDFC DEFENDER CHRISTOPHER MCVEY
On difficulty of trying to breakdown the opponent tonight:
“Yeah, I think you kind of said it. We had a hard time breaking them down, creating the clear chances we want to do. Thought defensively, you know, they had the penalty and that was pretty much it. But, you know, they win the game on it. So, obviously we want to clean that up. But, yeah, we got to be a little bit better on the ball and, yeah, create better chances.”
On his perspective on handballs being called or not called this season:
“It happens. For us, It’s more about we have to focus on what we need to focus on and we have to create more clear chances. That shouldn’t matter but it kind of sucks in the moment but I think we have to get back in training and keep working on breaking down these defenses that play like they do.”
On the explanation he got from the referee about the possible handball:
“I don’t even know what to say to be honest. I felt in the moment like it was also (a handball) but then again we can’t affect what the decision the ref is making, so, we just have to focus on what we can focus on we can’t really affect how they are reffing that. So, not much focus on that but on what we can do better as a team and create more of those chances and hopefully next time it will get in our favor.
On how Toronto forced to play a different way:
“I feel like we’ve been very good at adapting. A lot of different games have come up how they play against us and they sometimes how we expect them to come out and play is a little different to what they do with other teams but I think today, we were just a little bit sloppy on the ball to easy and we really didn’t hurt them in the areas that we could hurt them.”
