San Diego FC faced a challenging match on Wednesday, coming off a loss of two veteran players, including a key contributor this season.
The defeat came at Snapdragon Stadium, where they fell 1-0 to Toronto FC, who executed a strong defensive strategy throughout the game.
The only goal of the match was scored in the first half by Toronto striker Theo Corbeanu, who made the most of a penalty kick awarded in the 20th minute after SDFC left back Franco Negri committed a foul.
Corbeanu confidently converted the penalty, shooting a right-footed strike into the middle-right portion of the net.
With this loss, San Diego’s record has now dropped to 13 wins, 7 losses, and 3 draws, totaling 42 points, which still places them at the top of the Western Conference.
Conversely, Toronto FC improved their standing slightly to a 5-11-6 record, remaining one of the lower-ranked teams in the Eastern Conference and across Major League Soccer.
Despite their successful campaign against top-tier teams like Seattle, Minnesota, and Vancouver, San Diego FC has had difficulties against underperforming teams.
In this season alone, besides the loss to Toronto, SDFC has suffered defeats against Real Salt Lake and the Houston Dynamo, along with a frustrating scoreless draw against St. Louis City SC.
These challenging results are particularly notable as each of these teams has been below a .500 record for most of the season.
Attendance for the match was recorded at 23,514, and post-match reactions included boos from the crowd, a rare occurrence for a club that has otherwise enjoyed solid fan support throughout this season.
After the game, San Diego defender Chris McVey emphasized the need for improvement.
“We gotta be better on the ball. We gotta do better,” McVey said. “Today, we were a little too sloppy on the ball; we gave it away too easily.”
Head coach Mikey Varas acknowledged the loss but stressed the necessity of focusing on the upcoming match against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
“I could sit here and talk about officiating and all the things that I feel went against us tonight, but all of us know that we can do better than that,” Varas said.
He added, “We have another match in three days and need to bounce back. There’s no point in dwelling on this loss for too long.”
The match’s timing coincided with an announcement from SDFC regarding forward Milan Iloski, who had mutually agreed with the club to terminate his loan effective immediately.
Iloski, a 25-year-old forward and an Escondido native, is returning to Danish Superliga team FC Nordsjælland after he was loaned to SDFC in April, where he contributed significantly with 10 goals and one assist in 14 appearances.
Additionally, SDFC announced the termination of the contract with 27-year-old German defender Jasper Löffelsend, who had been selected during the MLS expansion draft last December.
Throughout his time with San Diego, Löffelsend played in 13 of 22 matches, starting seven, but did not score any goals while providing three assists.
Looking ahead, San Diego FC is set to play five consecutive matches at home, including a rematch against Vancouver on Saturday and a game against Nashville SC on July 21.
Afterward, the team will participate in three Leagues Cup matches against Liga MX teams at Snapdragon Stadium, with names like CF Pachuca and Tigres UANL on the schedule.
In a positive development, SDFC announced the signing of young U.S. youth international defender Aiden Harangi on loan from German Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt for the remainder of the season.
Harangi, a 19-year-old from Virginia, has spent the past six years in the youth system of Eintracht Frankfurt.
image source from：timesofsandiego
