LAFC ready to sow seeds for a new rivalry with San Diego FC
If history repeats at the final whistle on Saturday night, San Diego FC, Major League Soccer’s newest franchise, will suffer its first home defeat and have just two points after three matches in front of its supporters at Snapdragon Stadium.
Be warned SDFC: This hard-to-swallow introduction has been the experience for the half-dozen MLS expansion teams that crossed paths with the Los Angeles Football Club since 2019.
FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami, Austin FC, Nashville SC, Charlotte FC and St. Louis City were big-brothered by a combined score of 15-1. Charlotte took it on the chin the worst, 5-0. St. Louis was the most recent, 3-0 in 2023.
“I remember St. Louis two years ago when they built a new club and franchise,” LAFC defender Sergi Palencai said. “They were so hungry to do big things. We can see at the start of the season from San Diego they have good players, they have a good way to play, good ideas.”
Clad in chrome and azul, a deep blue, SDFC became the 30th active MLS team in February, earning a win against the reigning MLS Cup champion Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.
The 2-0 triumph was an impressive opening act for California’s fourth MLS club (topping Texas for the most in the U.S.), and brought another major league rivalry to a region dominated by Dodgers-Padres talk.
“A rivalry is not created because you are two hours from the other city,” Palencia said. “Something needs to happen. We expect a close game. A very hard game. And get the rivalry created.”
By denying LAFC (3-2-0, 9 points) more history and creating some of its own instead, SDFC (2-1-2, 8 points) has a chance to rebound from its first defeat (at Austin) with another statement against an ambitious L.A. neighbor.
SDFC favors a high line and heavy pressing, which LAFC had a full week to prepare for coming off a strong 2-0 win in Kansas City. The Black & Gold will be without forward Jeremy Ebobisse, but Denis Bouanga returned from international duty in good form and Olivier Giroud is clear to play.
San Diego’s first designated player, Mexican forward Chucky Lozano, should be available for the first time since taking an injury on March 1.
Tom Penn served as LAFC club president from its founding until the summer of 2020, when he stepped away from the role. Now CEO of SDFC, Penn said he is excited to host “best in class” LAFC along with several thousand away supporters at the 35,000-seat facility built on the San Diego State University campus in Mission Valley.
The scene is also notably meaningful for LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo, who was raised in nearby Rancho Peñasquitos and remembers many car rides to countless hours of training in La Jolla.
“I grew up at a time when San Diego was definitely a soccer city,” said the 46-year-old former U.S. men’s national team starter.
Cherundolo idolized the San Diego Sockers, who operated out of the Sports Arena as part of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
As coach, he previously visited his hometown with the Las Vegas Lights to compete against the Loyal prior to the USL Championship team’s dissolution two years ahead of SDFC’s entry into the market.
Led by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Mohamed Mansour, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, and a collection of founding partners focused on The Right to Dream (Mansour’s global development system of scholarship academies that is unique to SDFC’s DNA), “done right,” Cherundolo said, soccer in San Diego “can be quite the powerhouse.”
LAFC AT SAN DIEGO FC
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego
TV: Apple TV+, Apple TV – MLS Season Pass/710 AM, 980 AM