With tonight’s road win, SDFC became the first expansion team in MLS history to win five-straight road games in their debut season.
San Diego FC (SDFC) resumed MLS Regular Season action with a 2-0 win over Sporting KC at Children’s Mercy Park, staying atop the Western Conference standings behind goals from wingers Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Anders Dreyer. With the victory, SDFC became the first expansion team in MLS history to win five straight road matches in its debut season.
Lozano opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, blasting a right-footed shot past Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp in just the second-ever meeting between the clubs. Dreyer doubled the lead in the 70th minute, slotting a shot into the lower-right corner to secure SDFC’s 15th win of the campaign and its first-ever victory in Kansas City. Goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos earned his eighth MLS regular season clean sheet, backed by a backline that blocked, cleared, and stood firm during several Sporting KC chances.
SDFC’s road swing continues on Sunday, Aug. 17, when they face the San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park at 4:00 p.m. PT.
Goal Scoring Plays:
SD 1-0 – Hirving “Chucky” Lozano (Anders Dreyer), 23rd Minute: Lozano struck a right-footed shot from roughly 25 yards out, curling it over the outstretched hand of Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp and just under the crossbar to open the scoring. The play began when Lozano slid to dispossess a Sporting KC player, with Dreyer quickly feeding him a short pass back before the strike.
SD 2-0 – Anders Dreyer, 70th minute: Dreyer slotted a left-footed shot across his body into the lower right corner of the net on a run into the box. The chance came after he controlled a touch from Onni Valakari that deflected off a defender, with De La Torre starting the move with a through ball between defenders up the middle.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight’s 2-0 win against Sporting KC, SDFC earned its 15th win in Club history.
- SDFC is now 15-7-4 with 49 points through 26 games this season and currently sits in first place in the Western Conference standings and second in the Supporters’ Shield standings.
- With tonight’s win, SDFC also became the first expansion team in MLS history to win five-straight road matches.
- Tonight's match marked SDFC’s first MLS regular season match since beating Nashville FC 1-0 on July 25 at Snapdragon Stadium before heading into three Leagues Cup matches.
- SDFC is 12-1-0 when scoring first this season.
- SDFC is 8-4-0 on the road this season.
- With his goal tonight, Lozano now has eight goals and eight assists through 21 regular season appearances.
- With his assist to Lozano in the opening goal in the 23rd minute, Dreyer registered his 17th assist of the season, marking his 28th goal contribution.
- Dreyer scored his 11th goal of the season for a total of 29 goal contributions through 26 games.
- By producing a goal and an assist tonight, Dreyer (29) passed Carlos Vela (27 in 2018) for the most goal contributions by a player in an expansion club’s first season.
- Dreyer has had multiple goal contributions in eight 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), Aug. 9 at Sporting KC (1 goal, 1 assist).
- Dreyer has started in all 26 SDFC MLS Regular Season matches this season.
- Goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos made his first MLS appearance since July 5 against Houston Dynamo, when he suffered a broken nose. He returned to action from that injury during a Leagues Cup match against Mazatlán FC on Aug. 5.
- Dos Santos earned his eighth clean sheet in MLS this season tonight. He has nine clean sheets across all competitions (including one in Leagues Cup).
- SDFC dominated possession, holding 54% of the ball compared to Sporting KC’s 46%.
- SDFC had 568 passes completed compared to Sporting KC’s 396.
- Newcomer David Vazquez made his MLS Regular Season debut with SDFC tonight as a starter. It was his third start for SDFC. He started in two Leagues Cup matches and made his Club debut with a start against Tigres UANL on Aug. 1 in Leagues Cup play. He was on the bench for the Club’s first Leagues Cup match after being officially acquired on July 28.
- Goalkeeper Duran Ferree appeared on the 18-man roster for the third-straight match tonight after returning from loan with sister club FC Nordsjælland in Denmark. It was Ferree’s first time on the SDFC 18-man roster for an MLS match.
- Defender Christopher McVey was back in the starting XI for SDFC tonight in MLS Regular Season play after missing the Club’s last two MLS matches. He returned to action as a substitute against Tigres UANL on Aug. 1 and started against Mazatlán FC on Aug. 5.
- Defender Aiden Harangi made his SDFC MLS debut as a starter.
- Harangi also made his fourth appearance for SDFC. He played in all three Leagues Cup matches for the Club.
- Defender Manu Duah made his fourth MLS start and sixth appearance for SDFC. He has a total of nine appearances with the Club across all competitions. He played in three Leagues Club matches heading into tonight’s match.
Next Game
SDFC will next travel to visit the San Jose Earthquakes on Aug. 17 at PayPal Park in MLS Regular Season action. Kickoff for the match is set for 4 p.m. PT, with live coverage on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Match Information
2025 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC (15-7-4, 49 pts) vs. Sporting KC (6-13-6, 24 pts)
Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025 – Children’s Mercy Park (Kansas City, Kansas)
Scoring Summary:
SD (1-0) – Hirving “Chucky” Lozano (Assisted by Anders Dreyer), 23’
SD (2-0) - Anders Dreyer, 70’
Misconduct Summary:
KC– (Manu Garcia, 65’)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK CJ Dos Santos; D Aiden Harangi, D Christopher McVey (Ian Pilcher, 64’) , D Manu Duah, D Luca Bombino; M David Vázquez (Luca de la Torre, 46’), M Aníbal Godoy (Emmanuel Boateng, 64’), M Jeppe Tverskov -C-; F Onni Valakari, F Hirving “Chucky” Lozano (Alex Mighten 64’), F Anders Dreyer
Substitutes Not Used: GK Duran Ferree, D Franco Negri, D Pedro Soma, F Tomás Ángel, F Corey Baird
TOTAL SHOTS: 6; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 1; SAVES; 5
SPORTING KC: GK John Pulskamp; D Khiry Shelton, D Robert Voloder, D Jansen Miller, D Logan Ndenbe (Jacob Bartlett, 50’); M Santiago Munoz (Mason Toye, 64’), M Daniel Salloi -C-, M Jake Davis, M Zorhan Bassong, M Shapi Suleymanov (Many Garcia, 64’); F Dejan Joveljic
Substitutes Not Used: GK Ryan Schewe, D Andrew Brody, M Nemanja Radoja, M Memo Rodriguez, D Alan Montes, F Stephen Afrifa
TOTAL SHOTS: 22; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 10; OFFSIDES: 5; CORNER KICKS: 9; SAVES: 3
Referee: Pierre-Luc Lauziere
Assistant Referees: Jeffrey Greeson, Justin Howard
Fourth Official: Cristian Campo Hernandez
VAR: Shawn Tehini
AVAR: Robert Schaap
Weather: 89-degrees, Mostly Cloudy
Attendance: 16,579
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On overall thoughts on tonight’s game:
“I think it's a credit to the guys, this road performance mentality, that we can go and win everywhere. I think we started pretty strong, pretty decent first half, but then we got to suffer for a long time in this game, Kansas played a really, really good game, and they put us under pressure, but we had guys who made plays. We got to have two or three goal line saving plays, and there's a lot of merit to winning like that. Also, we don't want to make that a habit and being every single game like that, but when you have to dig deep and show that fighting team spirit and that way. Well, I think it's really important.”
On the highlights on defense and attacking:
“I think defensively, just the goal-line saves, just guys stepping up and making plays, being firemen at the right moment. I also think at the end of the game, just having all 11 players low and finding a way to close out a game where we had lost the momentum, and then I think early on, just some good passages of possession where we were able to break them in wide areas and cause them some issues. We weren't able to sustain it the whole night. But they also played a really good game. And they were quite aggressive from minute 30, 35 on.”
On defender Manu Duah’s performance:
“He stepped up great. He's making steps every single day, maturing in that position. You know, he just started playing in that position for the first time about a month ago, and he's learning on the job at the first team level. So, he still has a long way to go to reach his full potential, but he's making the right steps. We're really proud of him.”
SDFC WINGER ANDERS DREYER
On his thoughts about tonight’s match:
“We scored a beautiful goal for one zero, and then we shut the game down in second half with the goal for two zero. And yeah, happy for that. Three points away from home again. And yeah, we're doing a very great away from home.”
On passing Carlos Vela for most goal contributions by player on expansion team:
“Yeah, I didn't know that I passed the Carlos Vela, but no, it's nice. It’s nice to help the team to win with goals and an assist, and that's why I'm here. But yeah, like I said in the beginning of the season, for me, most important that we win games, and I don't care who scores, but yeah, it was nice to get three points here, and now we can have a good week preparation until the next one.”
On whether there’s any friendly competitions between him and Lozano during practice:
“No, not from my side and not from his side. We want to help each other. And yeah, Chucky knows that I will always look for him when I'm on the ball, because he's great going in behind and yeah, like we see today with a with a very nice goal. So yeah, of course, because of the weather it was tough to keep finding the moments. But yeah, it was nice to see Chucky score again, and myself as well.”
