WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: SAN DIEGO FC
Welcome back to What You Need To Know, a match preview for Austin FC fans to check in on their next opponent.
Austin FC team photo ahead of the match vs the LA Galaxy. Photo courtesy of Chris Rodriguez (RDZ Flickz)
Opponent: San Diego FC
Kick Off time: 8:30 PM US Central Time
Location: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA
History vs. Austin FC:
Austin FC is 1-0-1 (W-D-L) all-time. Austin FC won at Q2 2-1, and San Diego won the home fixture 2-0 last season.
Recent Matches:
San Diego has drawn their two most recent matches (1-1 at Seattle, 2-2 vs LAFC) and lost their previous five matches before that. They’re currently in 13th in the Western Conference.
Players to Watch:
Anders Dreyer
The Danish attacker came over to San Diego last season and put in an MVP-caliber season, and is off to another strong start (5 goals, 5 assists in 12 appearances). He is the key player for Austin to stop, especially if he’s able to get the ball in counterattacking spaces with runners around him.
Marcus Ingvartsen
Another Danish attacker, he’s their leading scorer with 8 goals and has emerged with Chucky Lozano being banished from the club (more on this later). He scored all three goals for San Diego in their past two matches.
Duran Ferree
The 19-year-old US Goalkeeper has taken over the starting job for San Diego FC this season, with last season’s starter CJ Dos Santos out injured. Unfortunately, as is the case for a lot of 19-year-olds in the professional workforce, he’s off to a rough start, allowing 1.6 goals per game compared to the 1.26 they allowed last season. As was evidenced by the game-tying goal last time out, he’s also not strong enough in the box. Austin should be able to put bodies forward and capitalize on this.
Keys to the Match:
Vibes Matter
I am a firm believer that vibes around a club matter. When the Front Office, Coaches, Players, and Fans are all in alignment, it’s palpable, and the inverse is true as well. San Diego does not have good vibes after a magical inaugural season.
The highest-paid player, Chucky Lozano, has not played for them due to conflicts with the coaching staff after a locker room dust-up. He has apologized for last season and has still not featured for the club. The fans have started chanting for him after matches and have already flown a plane before a match, calling for him to come back. Due to a lack of positive results on the season, it has clearly affected a team that was all positive vibes last season, into being well below the playoff line.
The Most Dangerous Lead in Sports
There is an adage that the Most Dangerous Lead is being up two goals, but I’m going to posit the most dangerous lead is any lead Austin FC has on the road. In all but one road MLS match this season, they’ve been up a goal and ceded the lead (note this happened twice in Miami and Toronto). They’re the last MLS to be winless on the road in 2026, and despite how the impressions of San Diego were based on last season, this is a match they can get a result in and combined with the positive momentum (7 points in their past three matches) along with taking on two more spoon contenders to go into the break and maybe Austin can turn this season around.
Attackers Attacking
Austin FC is currently scoring 1.5 goals per game, and while that isn’t a hugely impressive number, it would be the second-most goals per game for an Austin FC season. One of the reasons Austin FC has been able to do this even without Owen Wolff and Brandon Vazquez is the partnership of Christian Ramirez and Myrto Uzuni. They’ve already combined for nine goals on the season, and both could potentially break the record for goals scored by a striker in an Austin FC season (Maxi Urruti with 9 in 2022). Considering Austin’s nearly record-setting (bad) attack last season, it’s welcome to see a team that can put up a squiggly number consistently.
Prediction:
Austin FC: 2
San Diego FC: 2
WRITTEN BY SCOTT SPECHT
