San Diego FC beat Club Tijuana 1-0 with Teenage goal
Bryan Zamblé celebrates his game-winning goal against Club Tijuana in the club’s 1-0 victory at Snapdragon Stadium. (Photo Courtesy: San Diego FC)
An 18-year-old was the goal-scorer was the in the Leagues Cup meeting between San Diego FC and Club Tijuana, but not the one that everyone expected.
San Diego FC came out on top in their first ever official tournament match against Club Tijuana with a goal by their 18-year-old left winger and global Right to Dream academy graduate Bryan Zamblé.
The Xolitzcuintle’s star 18-year-old Mexican midfielder Gilberto Mora swapped jerseys with Zamblé after the match.
“It’s very important. Xolos is a great club and doing really well. Really strong team with really good players,” said Head Coach Mikey Varas. “It’s an important win for us at home for our fans. Obviously it’s a regional rivalry so we take that.”
San Diego nearly got on the board first within the first two minutes with strong work on the right wing by Anders Dreyer that culminated in a great chip in to the back postby Oscar Verhoeven toward Bryan Zamblé who collided with a Xolos defender. The deflection landed near Anders Dreyer who smashed it in for the goal. However, the goal was ultimately called off following a VAR review which called a foul on Zamblé for kicking the Xolos defenderinside the penalty area.
San Diego remained the better team in the first half sticking to the possession heavy identity and were able to create a quick goal in the 22nd minute.
Anders Dreyer brought the ball into the final third on the right side, then sent a tight pass into the box that Alejandro Alvarado just managed to reach. Alvarado’s touch sent it to a wide open Bryan Zamblé who touched it in to make it 1-0.
“I’m just really happy for (Zamblé) because I think more than the goal, I think he played a really mature game, kind of gassed out a little bit, which is normal because he hasn’t had a lot of minutes,” said Varas. “He’s an example of a guy who took his opportunity, took it really well and he’s put me on notice as the head coach of ‘should he be playing more or not?”
Neither side made immediate substitutions, but Club Tijuana went on to control the pass of the match and create better scoring opportunities in the second half.
“Second half they come a bit more aggressive, and I think for the first 15 minutes we dealt with it pretty decent and then from 60 minutes on, we pretty much suffered,” said Varas. “They got a hold of the game, and we need to do better at managing those moments to close that game a little stronger, but it’s all learning lessons, and we’ll get better from it.”
With the win San Diego now have three points, but will need another win and multiple negative results from MLS teams ahead of them to go in their favor if they wish to advance to the next phase of matches in the Leauges Cup. San Diego will play their next match against on Wednesday, August 12, 2026 against the Liga MX’s Puebla and play their next MLS match on Saturday, August 15, against the Western Conference’s second place side, Los Angeles Football Club.
