A resodded field improved the soccer conditions, from bad to decent.
The opponent?
A large step up.
San Diego FC ran into an attuned Vancouver Whitecaps club on Saturday night that booted the home team around its Mission Valley stadium soon after kickoff and dealt the first-year club a sour end to a sweet season that began in February.
Goal. Goal. Goal.
That’s how things went in the first half.
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, thank goodness, kept things from being a total bummer for first-seeded San Diego FC and a full-house crowd of 32,500.
The left wing scored a gorgeous goal in the 60th minute.
“Choo-ky Lo-zaaano” fans chanted.
The fans never faltered, nor did SDFC’s up-tempo efforts to score twice more.
The lopsided first half was just too much to surmount. The Major League Soccer Western Conference final went to second-seeded Vancouver, a 3-1 decision that will pit the Whitecaps against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the MLS Cup Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.
The soccer nitty-gritty was this: at the outset, the home team was too generous with the bal,l mostly due to Vancouver’s timely pressure tactics.
Vancouver turned two steals, one near SDFC’s penalty area, the other at midfield, into counter goals.
Between those tallies in the eighth minute and the second minute of stoppage time, the visitors mounted a brilliant individual effort that led to a goal three minutes after the first one. Emmanuel Sabbi slalomed past two SDFC defenders, creating stress that led to an own goal.
If it all felt unfair to the boisterous crowd, that’s because San Diego FC had risen to the moment so many times this season and in these playoffs.
Winning two of three games in the first round and a conference semifinal match Monday on a subpar home pitch made coach Mikey Varas’ club just the second expansion squad in MLS’ 30 years to reach a conference final.
But Vancouver was not Portland or Minnesota.
It was much more capable.
San Diego FC forward Corey Baird #21 reacts after a foul was called in favor of the Vancouver Whitecaps during the MLS Cup Western Conference Final at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Whitecaps striker Thomas Müller commanded more attention from SDFC than any other playoff opponent had. Müller’s space-creation contributed to the fast start.
Beyond Müller, the explosive Sabbi and forward Brian White, who scored the first goal and had 16 tallies this season, were more dangerous than SDFC’s previous playoff opponents.
What cannot was this: higher up the MLS pyramid, SDFC ran into a team that had more firepower and dealt very well with having lost two center backs — one of them the MLS Defender of the Year — just one week earlier.
Maybe, too, it was a case of Denmark turning from great friend to foe – Vancouver’s first-year coach Jesper Sørensen hailing from the same Northern European country that gifted SDFC with its top two players in Anders Dreyer and Jeppe Tverskov.
Seemingly prepared well by Sørensen, who took over the team in January, a month after his longtime Danish team sacked him, the Whitecaps hurt SDFC with a high press that swarmed to good effect.
But SDFC players and fans did not allow that defeat to curb their enthusiasm.
For many minutes after the season had fizzled to an end, supporters continued with “San Diego Futbol Club” chants and waving of flags behind the north goal.
The chants grew louder as the minutes went by.
Many of SDFC’s players took it in. Among them was Dreyer, the do-it-all wing and MLS newcomer who became the league’s second-best player behind Messi.
Dreyer, 27, is under contract for two more years, although it won’t be surprising if a European club tries to entice him to return.
Far away from the larger group of players, Lozano, the 30-year-old star from Mexico City, thanked fans. Will he be back next season? Stay tuned.
Finally, SDFC’s larger group of players turned and walked away from the supporters section.
Vancouver Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka #1 celebrates as San Diego FC defender Jeppe Tverskov #6 lays on the ground during the MLS Cup Western Conference Final at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
If Dreyer, Tverskov and Co. were looking for motivational fuel going into the offseason, it was available on the midfield stage where Whitecaps players gathered for a trophy celebration.
Vancouver joined the MLS in 2011. But only now will the franchise go to its first MLS Cup.
Will San Diego FC get there sooner than its 15th season?
Dreyer figures to return, as will Tverskov and several good younger players.
Varas and sporting director Tyler Heaps did fabulous work, boding well for a stellar second season.
Yet for all of its strengths, SDFC’s unique style may not be unique within MLS in 2026.
And, as any longtime San Diego sports fan can tell you, the “wait ‘til next year” mantra can become “wait ‘til next decade.”
Maybe SDFC will be different. It sure was this year.