{"id":23560,"date":"2025-10-26T00:37:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T00:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/23560\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T00:37:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T00:37:18","slug":"dangerously-different-san-diego-fc-could-capture-citys-hearts-with-playoff-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/23560\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangerously different San Diego FC could capture city’s hearts with playoff run"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asked this week what he knows about the history of San Diego teams winning \u201cmajor\u201d championships in professional sports, Mikey Varas of first-year soccer club San Diego FC gamely gave it a try.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that the Clippers, uh, potentially won something a long, long time ago,\u201d the coach said, \u201cbut other than that, no \u2014 we don\u2019t have any.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it was the Chargers who won a title, Varas got the main part right: San Diego\u2019s trophy case indeed is a lonely place.<\/p>\n

So for the local soccer newbies, who on Sunday will face the Portland Timbers in Mission Valley to open a best-of-three playoff series, the potential rewards loom as extraordinary.<\/p>\n

A lengthy run in Major League Soccer\u2019s postseason by the Western Conference champions, capped by a victory Dec. 6 in the MLS Cup final, would endear SDFC not only to hardcore locals who\u2019ve supported them but also thousands of San Diegans who may not know who they are.<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s trophy history being what it is, a robust bandwagon effect surely would take hold.<\/p>\n

Locals who today couldn\u2019t name any other MLS club, or recognize San Diego FC star wing Anders Dreyer in a grocery store, would flock to the party.<\/p>\n

Finally, a San Diego wave would\u2019ve brought a sports team all the way to shore.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Diego FC fans cheer during their match against FC Dallas at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, May 3, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Although the San Diego Sockers won several indoor titles before crowds of some 10,000 at the Sports Arena in the 1980s and early 1990s, the leagues in which they played were hard to take seriously.<\/p>\n

The Padres own no World Series trophies, and the Chargers\u2019 lone league-championship victory came in January 1964.<\/p>\n

Footnote: That American Football League trophy sits in El Segundo.<\/p>\n

For San Diego FC, it\u2019ll take five more wins: two against Portland and one apiece in the three rounds that follow.<\/p>\n

Sixteen MLS teams are still alive. In star power, the clear leaders are Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami and Son Heung-min\u2019s Los Angeles FC.<\/p>\n

But within MLS, everyone would agree on this: San Diego FC is an industry disruptor that\u2019s capable of causing more havoc.<\/p>\n

Because SDFC\u2019s leaders leveraged the chance to build a team from scratch and thus attain greater clarity of style, the team boasts rare collective strength.<\/p>\n

Further, the San Diego newbies are dangerously different.<\/p>\n

Their daring brand of soccer chosen by Varas, general manager Tyler Heaps and president Tom Penn is atypical in MLS.<\/p>\n

\"SanSan Diego FC midfielder Luca De La Torre (14) and midfielder Hirving Lozano (11) celebrate with teammates after a goal against the Los Angeles Galaxy during their match at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, May 24, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of have a unique style, a way that we believe in playing \u2014 and that\u2019s an advantage in football,\u201d said Luca de la Torre, an attacking midfielder who played youth soccer in San Diego.<\/p>\n

Don Coryell would\u2019ve liked their verve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe play with a lot of risk, with a lot of aggression to try to create chances, to try to score,\u201d said de la Torre. \u201cWe believe that\u2019s the best way to win the game. More than going out and focusing on stopping what the other team is gonna do, it\u2019s more about playing the way we play.\u201d<\/p>\n

SDFC scored 64 goals during the regular season, which ranks fifth among 30 MLS teams. Their goal differential of plus-23 is fourth. The club ended up second in assists, first in possession and first in passes attempted and completed.<\/p>\n

Only five teams allowed fewer goals.<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s de la Torre, 27, was born four years after the Chargers reached their only Super Bowl and were blown out. Immersed in soccer, he learned nothing about\u00a0San Diego\u2019s sports-title drought. Nor did the Sockers grab his attention.<\/p>\n

He might qualify as a local sports historian, though, compared to his teammates. Dreyer and Jeppe Tverskov, SDFC\u2019s top two players, grew up in Denmark. Star wing Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano hails from Mexico City. Many others come from abroad. And Varas, 42, grew up in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one SDFC sports figure who\u2019s well-acquainted with San Diego\u2019s lengthy sports-title drought.<\/p>\n

Manny Machado, a team investor, paid close attention to SDFC when he could find the time.<\/p>\n

If SDFC can get those five wins, the Padres star will be among those raising a toast.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asked this week what he knows about the history of San Diego teams winning \u201cmajor\u201d championships in professional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[11383,17699,11408,18419,74,1254,76,75],"class_list":["post-23560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-anders-dreyer","tag-chucky-lozano","tag-mikey-varas","tag-mls-cup","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-fc","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23560","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=23560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}