An unfortunate sophomore slump? Untimely injuries? The drama between San Diego FC’s front office and its most well-known player?
Whatever element hurt the most, SDFC’s second season came to a merciful end after a 1-0 loss to Sporting KC Saturday.
The match was a snapshot of how things went for the Chrome & Azul this year as the club dropped its final match to the last-place team in the Western Conference due to lack of finish, miscommunications in the backline and sloppy turnovers. The latter ended up being the deciding factor in favor of Sporting KC.
“We were trying to build a little bit of momentum of our last result, continuing to give guys some opportunities and, of course, win the game,” said SDFC head coach Mikey Varas. “The next step is a real deep dive into how the season went and why it went that way. I’ll probably be watching every single game we played, maybe a couple of times, to make a final evaluation of everybody before those final decisions are made.”
SDFC didn’t finish far ahead of KC, at 13th in the conference with a 9-11-14 record. They celebrated just one victory over their last 12 league matches, a 1-0 win over St. Louis City on Oct. 28.
That was a complete 180 after the club’s triumphant inaugural season, when SDFC made it to the conference final after finishing as the top seed with a record of 19-6-9.
What undoubtedly added to the obstacles in 2026 was the prolonged uncertainty with forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, who didn’t play for SDFC this season after locker-room conflicts in 2025 fractured his relationship with management. Yet he remained with the club and the limbo served as a distraction, splitting the fanbase.
Lozano ended up being sent to the LA Galaxy Aug. 7 as a loan from San Diego FC through December with a permanent trade option.
The Mexican national team legend occupies a Designated Player (DP) slot for both San Diego FC and the Galaxy. The vast majority of his pay – $9,333,333, with about two thirds being base salary and the rest bonuses/incentives – is covered by SDFC.
There’s a possibility that Lozano still could cast a shadow over the club – if LA Galaxy declines to exercise the permanent option on Lozano, it would make him an SDFC asset once again when the loan expires.
Lozano missed several games with the Galaxy due to injury, but in his 10 LA appearances, he contributed 2 goals and 1 assist across 674 minutes of play.
Varas concedes that, overall, SDFC “had a lot of difficult moments this year.
“The message is pretty simple, it’s not a season anyone of us wanted. When things are good, like they were last year, it’s never as good as you think they are and, when things are bad, they are never as bad as they seem.”
As to the final decisions Varas mentioned, several players’ contracts are expiring or have options to be exercised. Those moves must come ahead of the upcoming 2027 season, a shortened “Sprint Season” from February to May before Major League Soccer switches to a schedule that aligns with international competition windows.
Midfielder Emmanuel Boateng’s deal is ending and there are options to be considered for several players, including Amahl Pellegrino, Ian Pilcher and Oscar Verhoeven. Those are some of the many questions to address on and off the field if SDFC wants to have a chance to repeat its rookie season performance.
“Now we have some time to reflect, to rest and to really challenge ourselves so that we come back stronger,” said Varas. “We need to ask ourselves what are each of us willing to do to be great, to reach the levels that we reached already before.”
