San Diego FC conceded a gut-wrenching second-half added-time goal as regular time finished 2-2 on Saturday night at Providence Park. Timbers went on to down visiting SDFC 3-2 in the penalty shootout to tie the series a game apiece.
SDFC came into the second match of the best-of-three Round One series against the Timbers with the match-one victory in hand, as a win on the road would punch their ticket into the Western Conference Semifinals.
Last Sunday, San Diego FC handled business at home on Match One, with the packed Snapdragon Stadium witnessing the seemingly controlled but down-to-the-wire 2-1 victory against Portland, as goals by Onni Valakari and Anders Dreyer sealed the club’s first-ever postseason win.
Fans of the Chrome & Azul could rejoice as designated player and star Mexican international Hirving “Chucky” Lozano returned to the bench after missing out on the MLS regular season finale and the opening game of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs due to disciplinary reasons following a falling out with the coaching staff during the Oct. 4 away match against Houston Dynamo.
Lozano played a large part in the inaugural season’s success for SDFC, finishing the regular season as the club’s second-highest goal contributor, behind opposite flank teammate and MLS MVP finalist Anders Dreyer.
The Nov. 1 Saturday night match marked the fourth meeting between these two clubs, with San Diego FC having success against the Timbers, remaining undefeated with two wins and one draw through the first three games.
The Timbers came out of the gate strong, with early dangerous chances and created pressure, searching for the early opening goal at home.
Portland broke through in the 18-minute, with forward Kristoffer Velde taking advantage of the poorly defended long ball bouncing pass as Velde found himself at the top of the penalty box, rocketing a strike into the right side of the goal to erupt the Providene Park supporters with the 1-0 lead.
SDFC was hit with another blow in the 21-minute, this time through injury with a Portland-centered ball into the penalty area, leading to a collision between SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos and Timbers forward Kevin Kelsy.
Kelsy’s swinging shot attempt ended with his left foot making contact with CJ dos Santos’ face, as he was immediately down in pain with medical staff having to tend to his injury.
CJ dos Santos was unable to get off the field on his own power; with medical assistance, he was helped off the field. Backup SDFC goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega replaced him for the remainder of the match.
With the long break due to the CJ dos Santos’ injury, 12 minutes were added to the first half injury time.
SDFC forward Amahl Pellegrino got his chance within this added time and buried the equalizing goal in the 45+12 minute.
The wonderful build-up play by San Diego FC finished with Pellegrino at the top of the penalty box as he curled a perfectly placed right-footed shot into the right side of the net, leaving Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis no chance to make a save. The halftime whistle blew at that 1-1 scoreline.
After all the talk and stories for the past couple of weeks, Chucky Lozano finally returned to the field, being brought on for the second half.
Immediately, Lozano found his stride, netting in the go-ahead goal 6 minutes into the second half as he met a rebounded ball inside the box after a Dreyer saved shot and stabbed the ball past Pantemis for the 2-1 advantage.
SDFC looked to protect their lead going into the eight added minutes to the match, but Timbers forward Gage Guerra came to Portland’s rescue as he leveled the game at 2-2 with a rising header inside the box to keep his squad from elimination.
Guerra’s equalizer sent the match into a penalty shootout, where SDFC all-star forwards Dreyer and Lozano were successful from the spot for the first two attempts.
It looked to be all lined up for an SDFC advancing win after backup goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega made back-to-back penalty saves.
But three straight San Diego FC misses opened the door for Portland as the fifth penalty taker, Antony Alves Santos, buried his attempt to seal the dramatic season-saving home win for the Timbers, taking down SDFC 3-2 on penalties.
San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas spoke at the post-game press conference on his overall thoughts of the match against Portland, his feelings on the missed penalties, and looking ahead to Match Three.
“I think the effort from the boys was tremendous, and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game. They started taking a lot of risks.”
“We weren’t able to punish that risk that they took in terms of someone one vs. one and two vs. two situations on the final line, and they put enough pressure that they ended up getting kind of one of these kinds of scramble goals.”
“It is what it is like. It hurts because we’re all competitors, but we’ll use it as motivation to go back home and play our best.”
“It’s a penalty shootout, man. You’re brave enough to shoot one of those, and it can happen to anybody. Proud of all the guys who stepped up and had the courage to take it.”
“So, it’s just about making sure that we, right now, recover, and that we use this little bit of pain we have as motivation to get to go home and close this out in front of our fans playing our best football.”
This sets up a third and final match between San Diego and Portland next Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium, kicking off at 6 p.m., with the winner moving on to the MLS Western Conference Semifinals.