{"id":22080,"date":"2025-10-24T22:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/22080\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T22:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T22:44:07","slug":"sdfc-star-chucky-lozano-apologizes-but-is-that-enough-to-play-in-sundays-mls-playoff-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/22080\/","title":{"rendered":"SDFC star Chucky Lozano apologizes, but is that enough to play in Sunday’s MLS playoff game?"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego FC winger Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano issued an apology for the Oct. 4 locker room incident that led to him being left home from the club\u2019s final regular-season game last weekend<\/a>, saying in an Instagram post that \u201cI didn\u2019t react in the right way, and I\u2019ve already taken responsibility, addressed it and moved forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question now is whether coach Mikey Varas has as well.<\/p>\n

Varas remained non-committal when asked Friday if the Mexican star would suit up for Sunday\u2019s Major League Soccer playoff opener at Snapdragon Stadium. Game 2 of the best-of-three first-round series against the Timbers is Nov. 1 in Portland; Game 3, if necessary, will be back in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d Varas told media after training Friday. \u201cWe\u2019ll make that decision like we do with all players at the end of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to verify reports that Lozano\u2019s exile was punishment for a locker room tantrum after being subbed out at halftime during the previous game, Oct. 4 at Houston, Varas confirmed only that it was \u201ca situation in Houston\u201d but declined to provide specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day,\u201d Varas said, \u201cHirving is fully integrated in the team and the training. He\u2019s laughing, he\u2019s working hard. He\u2019s 100% committed to making his way back into the group, and we\u2019re 100% committed to supporting him into his way back into the group. We\u2019ll just take it day by day and make that decision when it needs to be made. \u2026 He\u2019s one of our guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

What will it take for him to get back in uniform and back on the field?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust his actions and his interactions are going to decide that,\u201d Varas said. \u201cBut he\u2019s fully committed, and he\u2019s showing a great response.\u201d<\/p>\n

That presumably includes the Instagram mea culpa, which was posted in English during Friday\u2019s training \u2014 and which came 20 days after the initial incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a passionate and competitive person who always wants to give everything for the team,\u201d the post said. \u201cSometimes, that same intensity can lead to reactions that don\u2019t reflect who I am or the respect I have for everyone around me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters most to me is continuing to grow \u2013 as a player, as a teammate, and as a person. Every day I\u2019m learning, improving, and doing my best to contribute positively to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not Lozano\u2019s first brush with insurrection. He was left off the Mexican national team in 2024 for several camps after a reported incident when he and a teammate missed a connecting flight. The teammate was rebooked in business class and Lozano complained robustly about being in economy.<\/p>\n

Lozano was not made available to media on Friday. The two players who were, captain Jeppe Tverskov and veteran midfielder An\u00edbal\u00a0Godoy, both deflected questions about the incident using similar terminology.<\/p>\n

Tverskov: \u201cI feel like it\u2019s not been a big thing for us. Chucky is training, as you see on the pitch. It\u2019s one of those things as a club we handle internally, and I feel we\u2019re doing it in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godoy: \u201cIt\u2019s an internal situation that we try to control inside of the club. I think Chucky is doing really well in the training. He is really professional. He is really important for the team, a big part of the team. And he\u2019s ready to play Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether he does represents a major inflection point for Varas in his first year as an MLS head coach.<\/p>\n

In U.S. sports, stars are typically afforded more roster leeway, instantly reclaiming starting positions after an absence for injury or even non-injury reasons. And the 30-year-old Lozano is clearly the face of an expansion franchise that caters to the Mexican-American community, arriving on a reported $12 million transfer from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and being MLS\u2019s fifth-highest paid player at $7.63 million this season.<\/p>\n

The conundrum: Amahl Pellegrino, Lozano\u2019s replacement on the left wing for the second half of the Houston match and throughout last week\u2019s win at Portland, scored three goals and logged three assists in 4-2 and 4-0 victories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The usually affable Varas turned prickly Friday with repeated questions about Lozano\u2019s status, at one point saying: \u201cDo you want me to say the same thing again? Because I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Diego FC midfielder Hirving Lozano and defender Jeppe Tverskov celebrate after a goal against the FC Dallas during their match at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, May 3, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nTverskov signs extension<\/p>\n

SDFC announced Friday that it has signed Tverskov to an extension through 2027 with a club option for 2028.<\/p>\n

Tverskov, a defensive midfielder, came to SDFC from sister club FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark. The team captain has scored two goals and logged 13 assists in his first year in the league. He was named an MLS All-Star in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I had a good season here, and it sounds like the club has also been happy with me. As soon as we started talking a little bit about it, it made good sense for both parties. It was so difficult for either of us. Everyone is happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

MLS Playoffs, first round: No. 1 seed San Diego FC vs. No. 8 seed Portland Timbers<\/p>\n

When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday<\/p>\n

Where: Snapdragon Stadium<\/p>\n

Streaming: AppleTV+<\/p>\n

Radio: 760-AM, 1700-AM (Spanish)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 3:00 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego FC winger Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano issued an apology for the Oct. 4 locker room incident that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[17699,11408,74,1254,76,75,11389],"class_list":["post-22080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-chucky-lozano","tag-mikey-varas","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sdfc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}