San Diego FC suffer biggest loss in club history in 5-0 defeat against Philadelphia Union
San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas puts his hands up in frustration during the club’s 5-0 loss against the Philadelphia Union. (Emmanuel Alonso/Sandiego.futbol)
San Diego FC played their worst half in club history on Sunday night at home in Snapdragon Stadium.
The young club suffered the biggest loss across any competition with their 5-0 defeat against the Philadelphia Union which included four goals in the second half highlighted by a brace by 16-year-old phenom Cavan Sullivan.
“Ultimately this is an unacceptable situation, an unacceptable result, and I take full responsibility at the end of the day. It's my job to get the group ready to play, and for whatever reason this group has not found any sort of consistency,” said head coach Mikey Varas. “But what I can promise is we’re gonna go back to the drawing board, and we’re gonna make the environment even more competitive because these guys got to fight for their lives if they want to be here.”
The Union played in a simple 4-4-2 formation happily conceding the possession to San Diego for the first half while defending well keeping the home side from creating truly strong scoring chances.
“We started the match pretty well, I think we can be up 1-0, maybe 2-0. The guys played in a nice way. We looked good in their direct play, they didn’t have much, a couple transitions here and there, we created big chances,” said Varas.
Then just before the start of stoppage time Varas believed the team collapsed after the San Diego nearly received a red card for a controversial play.
Manu Duah fouled former San Diego FC star Milan Iloski near the midfield sending Iloski to the floor while Alejandro Alvarado went to support kicked the ball directly into Iloski’s face. The moment caused some fuss between both teams and the referee gave Alvarado a red, but ultimately rescinded it following a VAR review.
Following the moment the union attacked well and scored the first of the night in the fifth minute of stoppage time with a goal by their young star Cavan Sullivan.
The youngster already has an agreement to join Manchester City when he turns 18 years old and proved why tonight.
The Union created a fast break counter attack, sending Indiana Vassilev down the left side of the pitch. As Vassilev entered the penalty area he sent a cross to the middle intended for Sullivan that he somehow scored with a backheel flick to make it 1-0.
From then on the Union were the better team by a wide margin tacking on four more goals in the second half.
Philadelphia scored their first in the 62nd minute with a few players bunched up the attack drew left backOscar Verhoeven in to defend. It allowed Sullivan to run ahead and receive a pass behind the backline easily. Sullivan got close to the goal and sent a shot right through SDFC goalkeeper Duran Ferree’s legs to make it 2-0.
The Union kept pushing and added another just five minutes later in the 67th minute. Bruno Damiani scored the third for Philadelphia after another counter attack caught the defense off guard leaving a wide open space in the penalty area to make it 3-0.
Later on San Diego conceded an own goal during a Philadelphia corner kick opportunity. Then the Union tacked on one more with a goal by Malik Jakupovic to officially make it the worst loss in club history taking advantage of lackadaisical defending by the Chrome and Azul.
San Diego FC play their next match on Wednesday, September 16, for a friendly against Club Tijuana, then play their next regular season match on the road against Inter Miami.
