San Diego natives propel San Diego FC to 2-0 victory over Austin FC
San Diego FC forward and Escondido native, Milan Iloski, celebrates his goal in the second minute of stoppage time. The goal cemented San Diego’s 2-0 victory over Austin FC. (Emmanuel Alonso/SanDiego.futbol)
San Diego FC completed an undefeated 5-match run at home in the month of May at Snapdragon Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 27,133 with a 2-0 victory over Austin FC, led by two San Diego natives, Luca de la Torre and Milan Iloski.
With match 17 in the books the expansion club has officially played half their matches for the MLS regular season and remain in second place in the Western Conference with 30 points.
“(San Diego) has always been a giant in terms of the talent that exists here, and I’ve said it before, this club is going to be a giant, it’s not a matter of if it’s a matter of when,” said head coach Mikey Varas of the talent in San Diego. “I can imagine 10, 15 years down the line with training the entire region in terms of how we want to play, the national teams really benefiting from even more talent coming out of this area.”
The home side were without their captain in the midfield, Jeppe Tverskov who was suspended due to yellow card accumulation. Meanwhile, Austin also were missing two of their usual midfielders, Besard Sabovic and Ilie Sánchez, who were also suspended because of yellow card accumulation.
Alejandro Alvarado Jr. took Tverskov’s place in the midfield and Godoy wore the captain’s armband. In the last match Alvarado made an error in the midfield that saw Austin quickly restart play resulting in a goal, but got a chance at redemption taking Tverskov’s place.
“(Alvarado) is a warrior, always has been, he’s a guy who went to Portugal as a young player to test himself, and that takes a lot of bravery…” Varas said. “He’s a fighter. He’s a player wherever he goes, he wins and he always does it for the best of the team. It’s never about him.”
Alvarado nearly had the best chance of the night around minute 37 just inside the 18-yard-box where he attempted to send a bicycle kick into the back of the net. Alvarado said after the match it was a “pray and hope,” shot and closed his eyes before unleashed the kick, but the shot went far over the net leaving it 1-0.
San Diego FC ended the first half with seven total shots, but only two were on target, but kept Austin from creating anything truly dangerous on the attacking front.
SDFC also limited Chula Vista native, Brandon Vasquez, who was without a quality shot against San Diego in the first half. Though he did start the second half with Austin’s best shot of the night with a header inside the penalty area that newly re-signed SDFC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos punched away to keep it level.
SDFC were pushing for a goal and eventually got one in the 60th minute after only minutes calling for a penalty in their favor after star winger, Anders Dreyer, went down inside the box. They continued to press high and took advantage after a long ball came from their center back Paddy McNair. The ball landed perfectly in front of Hirving “Chucky” Lozano.
Lozano patiently took a second to draw defenders toward him before passing the ball to a wide-open Luca de la Torre in the center of the box. De la Torre controlled the ball with his left and threaded a shot into the upper right corner of the net past two defenders and the goalkeeper to make it 1-0.
SDFC players celebrate Luca de la Torre’s game-winning goal in minute 60. (Emmanuel Alonso/SanDiego.futbol)
Minutes later Lozano went down with a non-contact injury to his left leg, the same leg he injured in San Diego FC’s first home match on March, 15, that left him away from the team for nearly four weeks.
Varas did not comment on the specifics of the injury, but said, “what I do know about him is whatever it is he’s going to confront it with his head up, chest out, do all the things he needs to do to make sure that he’s getting back.”
Austin threatened immediately and saw the momentum go in their favor for the next couple of minutes, but SDFC remained consistent and took back possession while continuing to press for another goal.
It eventually came in the second minute of stoppage time following some offensive substitutions including Marcus Ingvartsen coming back from injury and the Escondido native, Milan Iloski.
Iloski made a run into the opposing penalty area and started a perfect give and go inside the box with Anders Dreyer. Dreyer waited for defenders to inch towards him before laying the ball off back to Iloski who snuck behind the Austin back-line before sending the ball in easily to make it 2-0.
San Diego FC will play their next match at home on Saturday, June 7, against Club America, but will be without seven of their usual 11 players who will be away with their national teams for various summer competitions.
