Normally when a soccer team has a three-goal lead entering the return leg of an aggregate-score series, the strategy is simple:
Drive the bus onto the field and park it in front of the goal.
San Diego FC, however, is not your normal soccer team.
“We will never turn away from our convictions for the style of play that we have,” coach Mikey Varas said ahead of Tuesday’s second leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup first-round series at Mexico City’s Pumas UNAM, which SDFC leads 4-1 on goals. “What you will see is San Diego FC, going after the game, trying to score goals, trying to score the next goal, trying to be the protagonist.”
Varas was speaking after training Monday at Pumas’ Estadio Olimpico Universitario, the site of the 1968 Summer Games track meet and four games in the 1986 World Cup. The stadium sits 7,500 feet above sea level, providing an intriguing complication to SDFC’s convictions.
A little extra kick in the salsa.
All that attacking expends energy and oxygen, which is in short supply in Mexico City for a team that plays its home games a short drive from the Pacific Ocean.
Which is why Varas and midfielder Anibal Godoy, one of the few SDFC players who has experienced the smog and elevation of Mexico City, both offered subtle qualifiers in their comments Monday.
https://wpdash.medianewsgroup.com/2026/02/03/in-another-franchise-first-sdfc-beats-pumas-in-concacaf-champions-cup-opener/
Said Varas: “We’re also a very mature team and we have always little tactical nuances that you have to be prepared to be flexible with to always give yourself the best chance of winning. … We should always have game-plan strategies that are very specific to the opponent and the location that you play in.”
Added Godoy: “You have to be smart … We have a large number of players here who are experiencing this altitude for the first time. But that won’t be an excuse. It’s part of what we have to deal with, it’s what we have to play for, and we’re prepared for the effects. We’re going to feel it, but we have to know how to manage it.”
Luca Bombino #27 and Alex Mighten #77 of the San Diego FC celebrate after a goal against the Pumas UNAM during the CONCACAF Champions Cup match at Snapdragon Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Concacaf Champions Cup, the annual tournament for the region’s top professional clubs, is different from a league season with 30-odd games. It’s an NCAA Tournament-style bracket with two-leg series, using away goals as the tiebreaker if the aggregate score is knotted after the second game.
That elicits a different approach. The road team in the first match typically tries to score that coveted away goal, then sits in a defensive shell, knowing the second leg is at home.
It was all going perfectly for Pumas last Tuesday at Snapdragon Stadium, getting an 11th-minute strike from Roberto Morales on a spectacular bicycle kick. And it was still 1-0 midway through the second half.
Then Manu Duah scored for SDFC. Then David Vasquez. Then Alex Mighten. Then Luca Bombino, completing the barrage of four goals in a mere 19 minutes that had Mexican media lambasting Pumas back home.
Now Pumas faces the herculean task of winning 3-0, a scoreline that would send it to the round of 16. A 4-1 Pumas win would bring 30 minutes of extra time followed, if no one scores, by a penalty shootout. A 5-2 win would give SDFC the nod based on the away goals tiebreaker.
Mikey Varas of San Diego FC looks on before their match against the Pumas UNAM during the CONCACAF Champions Cup match at Snapdragon Stadium on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
There is historical precedent when it comes to a Mexican club overcoming a 4-1 loss on the road in the first leg of a Champions Cup. Atlas did it in 2023 against Honduran club Olimpia, winning 4-0 in Guadalajara a week later.
That also involved a sea level team coming to elevation (Guadalajara is at 5,100 feet).
This is the third elevation game of SDFC’s brief history. Last March, the chrome and azul won 3-1 against Real Salt Lake at 4,463 feet. A month later, they lost 3-2 against the Colorado Rapids at 5,280 feet.
Now, 7,500 feet — but with a 4-1 lead.
“We already played our home game,” Godoy said. “We were able to get a big lead, but that doesn’t mean it’s all over. A lot can happen, and we have to pay attention to many details, because in these kinds of games, in these kinds of tournaments, the details make a big difference.
“Pumas is a historic team, regardless of the result we had at home. I think we have to be careful with Pumas’ history, with everything they’ve generated on their home field over the years.”
Survive Estadio Olimpico Universitario, and an even taller challenge — literally — awaits. The winner faces reigning Liga MX champion Toluca, which plays at Estadio Nemesio Diez … at 8,750 feet.
San Diego FC at Pumas UNAM
What: Concacaf Champions Cup, first round, second leg (SDFC won the opener, 4-1)
When: 5 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Estadio Olimpico Universitario, Mexico City
TV: FS2, TUDN