Seventeen-year-old prodigy Gilberto Mora garnered some of the loudest cheers Sunday night at Snapdragon Stadium, but San Diego FC came away with the 1-0 win over border rival Tijuana Xolos in Leagues Cup competition.
Chants rippled through Sunday’s sellout crowd of 31,538 for Mora, the breakout forward who made three starts for the Mexican National Team during the FIFA World Cup, with a sizable contingent of supporters on hand for the Xolos.
Fans hooted when, early in the second half, one of Mora’s cleats came loose but he continued down the pitch with the shoe in hand.
The second half’s most spectacular plays, however, came from SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos. Dos Santos stretched out to block a Yael Padilla screamer from the top of the box in the 58th minute, the most threatening attempt Xolos produced since early in the first half. Dos Santos made another diving save to stonewall Ignacio Rivero’s straight-on attempt in the 67th minute.
The pair of clutch dos Santos stops, coupled with Elias Manoel’s misfired shot inthe 73rd minute that clanged off the right post, preserved a shutout win to help SDFC rebound in the annual crossover tournament pitting teams from Major League Soccer against clubs out of Mexico’s Liga MX.
Alejandro Alvarado was the catalyst for the lone goal of the night, intercepting a lackadaisical Mora pass attempt deep into the visitors’ side of the pitch.
Alvarado continued charing toward goa after passing to Anders Dreyer, who looped a pass around Jesus Gomez back to the spriting Alvarado.
Alvarado beat Mora by a step to dump the ball left to a wide-open Bryan Zamble, who capitalized in the 23rd minute. The 18-year-old Right to Dream Academy product’s score made up for a foul call early in the match that negated SDFC’s first scoring opportunity.
Just 115 seconds into the contest, Dreyer punched in the carom off of a missed Zamble attempt at a bicycle kick.
However, a video review that lasted significantly longer than the time SDFC needed to get on the scoreboard deemed Zamble committed a foul on his attempt.
Scratched goals bookended Dreyer’s night, as he lobbed in a breakaway shot during stoppage time that prompted the stadium fireworks to shoot off. The goal was instantly waved off as a result of Dreyer being offsides.
SDFC, which lost to Club America in its Leagues Cup opener, nearly pushed the gap two goals in a more positive direction for the squad. Onni Valakari had a look in the 85th minute that would have effectively put the match away, but Tijuana goalkeeper Antonio Rodriguez dove low to make the save.
The Xolos had their own promising opportunity early in the match from almost the exact same spot on the pitch. In the 11th minute, Rafael Fernandez fired from the center of the box that went just beyond the reach of dos Santos – and inches wide of the goal.
The threat ended with what looked like a surefire goal ricocheting off the post.While play was physical through much of the night, tempers flared only momentarily late in the first half. Jackson Porozo received a yellow card just before intermission; his protests to the official brought in a confrontational Marcus Ingvartsen, who just minutes earlier — while laid out on the turf — had a heated exchange with Porozo standing over him.