SAN DIEGO (Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026) – San Diego FC (SDFC) fell 5-0 against the Philadelphia Union on Sunday night at Snapdragon Stadium in the first-ever match between both clubs.
SDFC quickly put Philadelphia on notice with back-to-back attempts on goal from forward Amahl Pellegrino and midfielder Onni Valakari in the fourth minute. However, Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake came up with saves on both early attempts to keep the match scoreless.
In the 44th minute, SDFC midfielder Alejandro Alvarado Jr. was initially shown a red card for a challenge at midfield. Following a VAR review, the decision was overturned, with the challenge downgraded to a yellow card. With momentum building for both sides, Philadelphia forward Cavan Sullivan broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time (45’ +5’), giving Philadelphia a 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
Philadelphia extended its advantage early in the second half, with Sullivan scoring his second goal of the night in the 62nd minute. Bruno Damiani added a third goal five minutes later, before an own goal in the 87th minute and a stoppage-time goal from Malik Jakupovic completed the scoring.
SDFC will remain at Snapdragon Stadium for the second annual edition of Baja Cup against Club Tijuana on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 7:00 p.m. PT. Tickets for Wednesday’s match are available at SanDiegoFC.com/Tickets.
Goal Scoring Plays:
PHI – 1-0 – Cavan Sullivan (Indiana Vassilev, Brun. Damiani) 45th + 5’ minute: Philadelphia broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time as Cavan Sullivan finished a run from Indiana Vassilev with a backheel effort that found the back of the net.
PHI – 2-0 – Cavan Sullivan (Indiana Vassilev, Kai Wagner) 62nd minute: Sullivan doubled Philadelphia’s lead with a left-footed finish from inside the box following a combination with Vassilev.
PHI – 3-0 – Bruno Damiani (Frankie Westfield, Cavan Sullivan) 67th minute: Damiani extended Philadelphia’s advantage with a right-footed finish from inside the box.
PHI – 4-0 – Own Goal: Aníbal Godoy (San Diego FC) 87th minute: Philadelphia’s lead was extended following an own goal from SDFC midfielder Aníbal Godoy as he attempted to clear a header following a Philadelphia corner kick.
PHI – 5-0 – Malik Jakupovic (Frankie Westfield, Quinn Sullivan) 90th + 5’ minute: Philadelphia added a fifth goal in second-half stoppage time as Homegrown Malik Jakupovic finished a cross from Quinn Sullivan.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight’s loss against the Philadelphia Union, SDFC suffered its fourth loss in its last eight matches across all competitions.
- Tonight's 5-0 loss was the Club’s worst defeat all time.
- SDFC now has an 8-11-6 record in the 2026 MLS Regular Season with 30 points.
- Despite the result, SDFC remains in 9th place in the Western Conference standings above the Playoff line.
- Tonight's match marked the 59th MLS Regular Season match for SDFC and the Club now holds a 27-20-11 all-time MLS Regular Season record.
- SDFC is now 12-14-6 across all competitions in 2026 (MLS Regular Season 8-11-6, Concacaf Champions Cup 2-2-0, Leagues Cup 2-1-0).
- SDFC has scored 132 goals across all competitions (MLS, Leagues Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup).
- SDFC is 6-5-3 at home in MLS this season.
- SDFC is 0-10-3 when allowing the first goal this MLS season.
- SDFC out possessed Philadelphia 54 percent to 48 percent
- With tonight’s start, Valakari made his 73rd appearance or SDFC across all competitions.
- Forward Cedric Bakambu made his second appearance for SDFC coming off the bench in the 60th minute replacing Amahl Pellegrino
- Midfielder Aníbal Godoy registered his 260th MLS Regular season appearance and his 272nd MLS career appearance including postseason appearances.
- Newcomer Sam Vines made his first appearance on the bench for SDFC.
- Forward Marcus Ingvartsen, winger Alex Mighten and midfielder Gabriel Pirani missed tonight’s match due to injury.
- CJ Dos Santos missed the match while serving a red card suspension.
Match Information
2026 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC vs Philadelphia Union
Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026 – Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, Calif.)
Scoring Summary:
PHI – 1-0 – Cavan Sullivan (Indiana Vassilev, Bruno Damiani) 45’+5’
PHI – 2-0 – Cavan Sullivan (Indiana Vassilev, Kai Wagner) 62’
PHI – 3-0 – Bruno Damiani (Frank Westfield, Cavan Sullivan) 67’
PHI – 4-0 – Own Goal - Aníbal Godoy (SD) 87’
PHI – 5-0 – Malik Jakupovik (Quinn Sullivan, Frankie Westfield) 90’+4’
Misconduct Summary:
PHI – Brudo Damiani (Caution, 27’)
SD – Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (caution, 45’+2’)
PHI – Niel Pierre (Caution, 45’+7’)
SD – Oscar Verhoeven (Caution, 90’+1’)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK Duran Ferree; D Kieran Sargeant; Manu Duah, Ian Murphy (D Dagur Thorhallsson 81’), Oscar Verhoeven; M Jeppe Tverskov (C), Onni Valakari (M David Vázquez 60’), Alejandro Alvarado Jr. (M Aníbal Godoy 60’), F Amahl Pellegrino (F Cédric Bakambu 60’), F Elias Achouri (F Bryan Zamblé 73’), F Anders Dreyer
Substitutes Not Used: GK Pablo Sisniega; D Christopher McVey, D Sam Vines; M Pedro Soma
TOTAL SHOTS: 10; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 13; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 11; SAVES: 0
PHILADELPHIA UNION: GK Andre Blake (C); D Nathan Harriel, D Kai Wagner, D Francis Westfield, D Neil Pierre (D Japhet Sery Larsen 86’); M Jovan Lukic, M Danley Jean Jacques, M Cavan Sullivan (M Jesus Bueno 77’); F Bruno Damiani (F Ezekiel Alladoh 77’), F Milan Iloski (F Malik Jakupovic 86’), F Indiana Vassilev (M Quinn Sullivan 69’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Andrew Rick; M Alejandro Bedoya; M Ben Bender, M Agustin Anello
TOTAL SHOTS: 20; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 15; OFFSIDES 1; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 5
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Kieso, Stephen McGonagle
Fourth Official: Ricardo Fierro
VAR: Armando Villarreal
AVAR: Joshua Patlak
Weather: 81-degrees, Partly Clear
Attendance: 21,171
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
POSTGAME MEDIA ASSETS
Editorial, rights-free assets from Sunday's postgame media availability and match photos are available below:
- Photos available HERE
- Soundbites available HERE
- SDFC Head Coach Mikey Varas (English, Spanish)
- SDFC Midfielder Jeppe Tverskov (English)
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On his thoughts about the match
“Well, I think we start the match pretty well, and I think we can be up at least 1-0, maybe 2-0. We, yeah, the guys played a nice way. We were good in their direct play. They didn't really have too much. A couple little transitions here and there. We created big chances, and then of course the Alejandro kind of situation where the ref thinks it's a red card, then it goes back, and all of a sudden the team collapses, and that's that's really unfortunate because we really let it get away from us tonight.”
On noticing playing patterns of other teams
“Yeah, I think that teams. Well, each team that we played in the last nine days have all been a little bit different, but I definitely think that they've taken advantage of a little bit of our passivity when we go into the low block, and then transition moments where we lose really poor turnovers or are really poorly positioned in terms of our counter prevention shape. I think these are two issues that that we've really had a problem with, and then that's tied together with the fact that we're not finishing with strong actions on the goal. You know, with how much of the ball we have and how many breakthroughs we have. Just not a just not enough danger on the on the goal. Ultimately, listen. Like this is an unacceptable situation, unacceptable result. And I take full responsibility at the end of the day. It's my job to get the group ready to play. And for whatever reason, this group has not found any sort of consistency. But what I can promise is, we're going to go back to the drawing board, and we're going to make the environment even more competitive because these guys got to fight for their lives if they want to be here, and they got to show a lot more than what they're shown.”
On looking at the positives despite the result
“I think the positives are the start that we have clearly showed when we're all in tune with the game plan, with our roles and responsibilities, when we stick to our principles, when we're collective, the affiliate team is a pretty good team, and I felt like we were not super dominant, but I feel like we were definitely the team that was more in control of the first 40 minutes, 40, 42 minutes of the game, so that's the only positive. The rest of it is all learning lessons, and it's a mentality situation right now where, you know, from that red card situation that gets overturned, we we just have a complete collapse. And I think this is the first time that really that's happened where we haven't we haven't stayed compact enough, or fight enough, and ultimately Philly punished us, and they fully deserve three points.”
On the fighting back mentality after going down on Wednesday night and comparing to tonight
“Listen, there's two things that I think. How can I say? Like a little piece of me is left on the field. It's one when we don't follow our principles and we don't we don't play to our strengths, which is our style of play, and we start doing random things. And then the other one, which is even more important, when we don't fight, when we don't fight and we don't run, and we get outworked because the foundation of anything in life, if you want to be successful, is hard work, commitment, pushing harder than somebody else, and yeah, it it hurts a lot, you know, because it's just not it's not who we are, and we can say that it's a blip on the radar, but we take these blips very seriously. So we need to self-correct very quickly because it's unacceptable. And you know the fans and Frontera they they win 100% for 95 minutes. Even though we were losing 5-0, they were still chanting at 100 percent, and we need to use that as an example.”
On Sullivan's performance tonight
“Well, in regards to tonight, I think that we actually limited him in those first 40 minutes. You could see that he didn't have the space or the balls that he usually gets to to show his quality, and then of course our compactness starts to disappear and our our winning duels, and you give him an inch, and he'll take a mile. He's that type of player. Yeah, I think he's one of the more interesting talents that we've had come through in a really long time, and I think we've always had we've always had in each generation a big player. Sometimes we've been lucky and have two or three like really big players, and he still got a lot of steps to take. But you can definitely see smells of of what could be. Seems like he has a great mentality, but time will tell. Hopefully, he stays humble and hungry, and he keeps pushing because right now in the league at 16 years old he's he's a handful.”
SDFC MIDFIELDER JEPPE TVERSKOV
On the team's improvements
“No, no improvements. Yeah, I think you could all see that we were and we had that maybe we were struggling today. First half have have some moments and good moments, but ever since they get the goal, it's it's basically downhill from there. So yeah, the mountain we had to climb from midweek has has become bigger after today, and yeah, we we gotta take it on the chin.”
On the teams mentality after the rescinded red card
“Yeah, I feel like as yeah, as players we don't shouldn't be be so affected as we do. I don't know if that's that's the moment or what happened, but but it seems like after that, obviously they get the goal, and and as I said, from from they get their goal, it's it's pretty much downhill. We we lose the control we had up up until then, and yeah, concede and concede and concede, and then obviously, especially from the fourth and fifth goal, mentally it's it's tough at home from our own fans and getting a result like today, so yeah, it's it's out on it. They they have to be after a performance like this.”
On MLS’ transfer market and how those changes can affect teams
“Yeah, it's a it's a it's a good question because only time will tell, and and obviously right now we're trying to integrate as many as possible. So yeah, it's our responsibility to to get everybody on on board as quick as possible. And I felt like we have have been, but it's kind of difficult sitting here after three losses in a row and telling everything is going perfectly, also in terms of that. So it feels like right now it's it's back to the training pitch and work hard and get this stuff out of the system because yeah, it's not only results but also performances. Like today, it feels difficult to build on, but we have to.”
On the team ability to hold possession
“Yeah, that's that's a point of possession that you you want to break down the opponent for longer periods and then getting easier access to to great opportunities. But we we don't really get there. I think we had some in the first half that that we did, but but right now it's not clicking. It's obvious, and that's what we're trying to work on. But yeah, as a player, it's it's kind of tough because in the good moments, and we've had those also in this season. Playing the way we do, everything feels great because you have the ball a lot. You dominate and you you get the goal and you get these chances. But when you when you dominate without getting chances, yeah, as as the game goes on right now, it doesn't feel like we are as comfortable as we as we've been before in in that sense.”
