San Diego FC hasn’t won a Major League Soccer match since Aug. 29.
With five games remaining and its playoff hopes fading, Saturday’s trip to Carson offers a chance to end that drought while taking points directly from a team it is chasing.
SDFC (8-12-9, 33 points) visits the LA Galaxy at 7:30 p.m. at Dignity Health Sports Park. San Diego sits 12th in the Western Conference, five points behind ninth-place Colorado. The Galaxy (10-11-9, 39 points) occupy eighth place, the first of two wild-card spots.
A victory would cut San Diego’s deficit to the Galaxy from six points to three, with SDFC having played one fewer match. A loss would further narrow its path to the postseason.
Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with Houston at Snapdragon Stadium offered a familiar mix of promise and frustration. Anders Dreyer converted a penalty kick in the 20th minute, and Cédric Bakambu doubled the lead two minutes later. By the 37th minute, Houston had scored three consecutive goals and taken control.
Gabriel Pirani rescued a point in the 86th minute, tapping in a rebound after a corner kick, but his equalizer couldn’t erase the damage from a 13-minute defensive collapse.
“The mountain we’re climbing just got a little bit steeper,” coach Mikey Varas said afterward. “But we’re still in this thing. And now we got to bounce back, and we got to find some consistency.”
Consistency has been elusive. San Diego has produced stretches of quality soccer without sustaining them long enough to win.
Its six most recent league matches include losses to San Jose, Philadelphia and the New York Red Bulls and draws against Inter Miami, Austin and Houston. SDFC has conceded at least three goals in five of those six games.
Captain Jeppe Tverskov pointed to lapses in intensity that allow opponents to get behind the defense. Against Houston, he said, SDFC lost control of a match it initially dominated, then spent the rest of the night recovering.
“The one point here and there is not going to make it for us anymore,” Tverskov said. “So, chest up, take it on the chest. It’s about getting the three points basically.”
The Galaxy, at least, have been a favorable opponent.
San Diego has won all three meetings against the Galaxy since joining MLS, beginning with a 2-0 victory in its inaugural match in Carson on Feb. 23, 2025. SDFC followed with a 2-1 home win that May and a 3-1 victory at Snapdragon Stadium on Aug. 29 — its last before the current seven-match league winless streak.
Dreyer assisted on all three goals in the August meeting, scored by Elias Achouri, Kieran Sargeant and Amahl Pellegrino. San Diego protected its lead despite Tverskov’s second-half ejection. The Galaxy’s lone goal came from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, San Diego’s first designated player, who had joined L.A. on loan three weeks earlier.
Anders Dreyer #10 of San Diego FC and Chucky Lozano #11 of the Los Angeles Galaxy battle for the ball at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
There will be no on-field reunion Saturday. Lozano is out with a thigh injury, as is Galaxy forward Kyōgo Furuhashi. San Diego lists defender Osvald Søe as its only unavailable player.
The Galaxy nevertheless pose a substantial attacking threat. Marco Reus scored his eighth goal of the season and added an assist in Wednesday’s 2-0 home victory over Portland, giving him seven goal contributions in his past seven matches. His free kick set up Justin Haak’s second-half header, while Robert Taylor assisted on Reus’ goal.
The victory was a needed response to Sunday’s 6-2 loss at St. Louis. The Galaxy have struggled defensively, but Wednesday’s clean sheet offered some stability heading into another consequential Western Conference matchup.
San Diego has the firepower to exploit those vulnerabilities. Dreyer and Marcus Ingvartsen have 12 league goals apiece, while Bakambu has scored three times in six matches since joining SDFC, including goals in consecutive games. Pirani’s equalizer against Houston underscored the team’s attacking potential, even as defensive breakdowns continue to undermine it.
Wednesday’s frustration also carried disciplinary consequences. MLS fined SDFC, Varas, Pirani and performance scientist Carson O’Coyne for violating the league’s Mass Confrontation Policy following the Houston match. The Dynamo, coach Ben Olsen, midfielder Duane Holmes and defender Lucas Halter also were fined. No suspensions were announced.
For Varas, the priority remains turning promising stretches into complete performances.
San Diego FC team has shown it can beat the Galaxy. Now it must prove it can win again before its remaining opportunities run out.