Regarding the unfortunate estrangement between San Diego FC and star wing Hirving “Chucky” Lozano:
It would be a shame if this stalemate runs through the entire soccer year. And I suppose that might happen. None of the behind-the-scenes efforts have resulted in Lozano returning to the pitch — either for SDFC or another team able to trade for the wing.
The outcome remains a large bummer.
Lozano is an entertaining player. His vision, passing and scoring made several of SDFC’s inaugural-season games more fun to watch. San Diego FC and he produced numerous electric moments in their one season together. And, as you’d expect, the team hasn’t found a replacement who provides as much technical skill.
An ill fit between Lozano and SDFC led to the unraveling, which came to a head late in the 2025 season when the team suspended the wing after his run-in with coach Mikey Varas. Several players concurred with the decision.
Entering this season, the team announced it was moving on from Lozano. General manager Tyler Heaps said he would try to trade him to get him the playing time needed to earn a spot with Mexico in the World Cup.
Lozano had apologized for the ‘25 altercation and earned his way back onto the active roster, although his playing time came off the bench.
But, now, having not played this season, he’s an extreme long shot for the World Cup.
Minnesota United FC celebrates scoring during Saturday’s MLS match against SDFC at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, CA. (Xavier Hernandez for the UT)
By San Diego standards, this saga stands as one of the weirder bummers involving a professional sports team and one of its stars.
Bill Walton and the Clippers became at odds, but Walton’s foot injuries created those disagreements.
Pro Football Hall of Famers Fred Dean and Antonio Gates withheld their services for a number of weeks with the Chargers. But those were contractual disputes, solved with a trade and a financial agreement, respectively.
Lozano is getting paid by San Diego FC per the lucrative contract he landed as the centerpiece acquisition in the franchise’s launch. He still lives in San Diego County, a lifestyle that he and his family enjoy, he said in December. Two months into SDFC’s second Major League Soccer season, Lozano still works out by himself at the team’s training site in El Cajon. How strange.
It’s not a bad gig, but I can’t believe Lozano will look back with fondness on this career chapter.
He wouldn’t have made it this far in soccer without a passion for playing.
And Lozano hasn’t played since Nov. 29, when he came off the bench and scored San Diego FC’s only goal in the 2025 team’s final playoff game.
Mexico kicks off the whole World Cup tournament on June 11. And that match, against South Africa, will happen in Mexico City, where Lozano grew up.
The Mexican team isn’t feeling nostalgic, it appears, for a reunion with Lozano, even though he scored the goal that beat Germany in the 2018 World Cup.
“I spoke with him more than once, of course, regarding the situation he’s in,” coach Miguel Aguirre said in late February. “The conversation is obviously private, but I would say that I have more arguments (in a player’s favor) if they’re playing — he and anyone else. I understand personal situations, like being in Europe and not playing as often … but I do prefer them to be in better shape, at least physically and in good soccer form.”
SDFC’s Osvald Soe is pressured by Minnesota United’s, Joaquin Pereyra during Saturday’s MLS match at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, CA. (Xavier Hernandez for the UT)
If Lozano’s apology to SDFC in October affirmed he was to blame for the blowup late last season, following his halftime benching, a suboptimal vetting of Lozano’s fit with SDFC may have preceded his arrival.
The signing of Lozano was announced in June 2024 by SDFC, months before either Heaps or Varas was hired. MLS power brokers and SDFC’s top leaders garnered publicity for the expansion franchise with the signing, but it’s fair to wonder if the evaluation of the soccer fit would’ve been the same had both Heaps and Varas been on board.
SDFC (3-2-2) sits in eighth place in the 15-team MLS Western Conference standings heading into this week’s road game against Real Salt Lake.
Its performance has fallen off in recent weeks. Defensive breakdowns have become glaring. So has the uneven play in the midfield.
Lozano’s replacements? They’ve been underwhelming. Health issues there have also been a factor.
SDFC’s players had a say in the suspension. Heaps said he consulted the team’s five-player committee headed by captain Jeppe Tverskov.
But players can also appreciate how a player of Lozano’s talents can unlock a defense. Dreyer and Lozano teamed up for several top-level successes last season, and Dreyer, when asked in January about not having Lozano as a teammate this year, acknowledged there would be a price to pay.
“Me and Chucky had a good partnership on the pitch,” said the right wing and 2025 MLS MVP runner-up to Lionel Messi. “Of course, his goal contributions last year — we’re going to miss that this year. But, it’s football.”
A naive forecast: First SDFC, then Lozano, become fed up with this holding pattern. Failing a trade, the team and Lozano reconcile late in the endless soccer season. Remember, the MLS playoffs don’t arrive until November.
Did I say naive? Make it ultra-naive. But as Dreyer said about his own career’s twists and turns, in football, you never know.