{"id":93403,"date":"2025-07-26T06:30:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T06:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/93403\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T06:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T06:30:11","slug":"sdfc-tightens-grip-on-first-place-with-2-0-win-over-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/93403\/","title":{"rendered":"SDFC tightens grip on first place with 2-0 win over Nashville"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hirving<\/a>Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano (right) is congratulated after scoring the winning goal against Nashville SC. (Photo by Chris Stone\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

San Diego FC<\/a>\u2019s tendency for slow starts continued Friday, but the expansion side was still able to pick up a win \u2013 and shut out one of the best teams in MLS in the process.<\/p>\n

After a scoreless first half that was a tightly contested, measured chess match, the club<\/a> roared to life in the second half and defeated Nashville SC 2-0 at Snapdragon Stadium.<\/p>\n

Stars Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano and Anders Dreyer delivered the goals. Lozano, who like Dreyer, was fresh off an appearance in the MLS All-Star Game<\/a> on Wednesday, scored during the eighth minute of the second half via a right-footed shot from the center of the goal that connected with the top right corner of the net. <\/p>\n

It was his first goal since June 28.<\/p>\n

Then, right at the very end of the match, with seconds remaining during 10 minutes of stoppage time, a left-footed shot by Dreyer hit the net\u2019s lower left zone, sealing the win.<\/p>\n

It was Dreyer\u2019s 12th goal of the season and Lozano\u2019s seventh. Dreyer also assisted on Lozano\u2019s goal, his 16th assist of the season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

San Diego, which came into the match winless in its last three home games, delivered its first clean sheet since a 2-0 home win against Austin FC on May 31.<\/p>\n

It was the first-ever clash between the two sides. Nashville, one of the best teams in MLS this season, came into the match in second place in the Eastern Conference, while San Diego
entered at the top of the Western table<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following the victory, SDFC now sits at 14-7-4, with 46 points, compared to 42 for Vancouver, which faces Sporting KC Saturday. Nashville, meanwhile, slips to third in the Eastern standings with a 14-6-5 record and 47 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day \u2026 you have to cherish wins against good teams,\u201d SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said in a postgame interview. \u201cWe\u2019ll enjoy this one, because the boys played a heck of a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Diego came into the match shorthanded, with four players \u2013 forward Marcus Ingvartsen, right-back Willy Kumado, defender Christopher McVey and forward Anisse Saidi \u2013 all out due to lower-body injuries.<\/p>\n

However, defensive midfielder An\u00edbal Godoy, who had missed the three previous matches due to injury, returned to the lineup and played about 35 minutes in the second half.<\/p>\n

Three of San Diego\u2019s starting XI played in Texas just 48 hours earlier. Lozano, Dreyer and Jeppe Tverskov all participated in the All-Star Game in Austin, logging at least 30 minutes of playing time each.<\/p>\n

Nashville also sent three players to the All-Star Game and one of its players, Sam Surridge, scored for MLS during their 3-1 victory against over a team made up of Liga MX league all-stars.<\/p>\n

Notes: Up next, SDFC begins participation in the Leagues Cup, an annual tournament between MLS and Liga MX clubs. San Diego has three matches scheduled across seven days against Mexican teams: CF Pachuca on Tuesday; Tigres UANL on Aug. 1, and Mazatl\u00e1n FC on Aug. 5. All the matches are scheduled for Snapdragon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano (right) is congratulated after scoring the winning goal against Nashville SC. (Photo by Chris Stone\/Times…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,61759,35667,53516,6656,61760,3549,15520,7264,53518,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-93403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-hirving-chucky-lozano","12":"tag-liga-mx","13":"tag-mikey-varas","14":"tag-mls","15":"tag-mls-western-conference","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-san-diego-fc","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-snapdragon-stadium","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114918131208044623","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}