\n<\/p>\n
A pair of red cards forced the Major League Soccer club to play shorthanded for most of its international match Wednesday night in Mission Valley.<\/p>\n
San Diego FC answered with its most memorable \u2014 and exhausting \u2014 homefield performance since the franchise first rolled out soccer balls two winters ago.<\/p>\n
Getting two goals from David Vazquez and one from Anders Dreyer, the home team hustled up a 3-2 Concacaf Champions Cup victory against Mexico\u2019s top team, Toluca, before an announced crowd of 20,652.<\/p>\n
The clubs will meet next Wednesday in central Mexico to decide who goes to the quarterfinals. The first tiebreaker would be goal differential for the two games.<\/p>\n
When the final whistle sounded in Mission Valley, SDFC\u2019s Luca Bombino slumped to the grass, face down.<\/p>\n
The second-year defender had put some 10 miles on the odometer, chasing and being chased, across the full 90 minutes of soccer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s (physically) difficult to stand and talk to you,\u201d Bombino said an hour later, when asked about fatigue. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to sleeping.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tilting the treadmill ramp upward, San Diego FC went 10 against 11 for most of the match due to forward Marcus Ingvartsen\u2019s ejection for a violent kick in the 12th minute.<\/p>\n
The punishing math became nine against 11 after defender Manu Duah\u2019s goal-saving handball, in the 88th minute, brought him a disqualifying second yellow card.<\/p>\n
Even so, SDFC outplayed the visitors for the most part, overcoming the two penalty-kick goals Toluca scored off the red-card fouls.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody who is in the stadium will remember this night,\u201d SDFC coach Mikey Varas said as midnight approached Wednesday, \u201cbecause the team not only found a way to get the result, but they found a way to continue imposing themselves, even though a lot of things went against us tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Youthfulness was an asset on this night.<\/p>\n
Four players age 19 and two age 20 played most of the match for SDFC, while Toluca entered just one player under age 25.<\/p>\n
Bombino,19, got my vote as match MVP.<\/p>\n
The defender contributed to all three goals with smart work in the final third. That\u2019s an emerging theme to his second season<\/p>\n
Springing a trap that the coaches planned and also gambling on his own, Bombino began the comeback from 1-0 by teaming up with Jeppe Tverskov to create a steal. Then he punched a perfect lead pass, leading to the tying goal. He would add two official assists.<\/p>\n
Dryer said he\u2019s proud of Bombino\u2019s soccer and stamina, but was quick to add that, most important of all, \u201che\u2019s just such a good kid, he\u2019s grounded and not thinking he\u2019s something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 15, Vazquez moved from Los Angeles to\u00a0 Philadelphia to begin his professional career. SDFC brought him back to Southern California with a trade last summer, and he\u2019s now looking at home again.<\/p>\n
Varas said the 20-year-old Duah, required to defuse numerical disadvantages at a higher rate, \u201cdid very well\u201d against \u201cvery, very good players.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n SDFC\u2019s elders did spry work, too.<\/p>\n Amahl Pellegrino, 35, contributed to all three goals before exiting in the final minute. The Norwegian, who took Hirving \u201cChucky\u201d Lozano\u2019s starting job late last season, drew again from his rare stamina and feel for spacing.<\/p>\n Dreyer directed traffic well and added to the 2-1 lead in the 53rd minute.<\/p>\n When Bombino\u2019s deft dropback pass set up a left-to-right shot, the Danish lefty smashed a 19-yard banger that took him off both feet and curved inside of the far post.<\/p>\n Veteran Christopher McVey assisted fellow center back Duah in protecting goalkeeper Duran Ferree, yet another 19-year-old.<\/p>\n SDFC\u2019s performance will create ripples beyond MLS.<\/p>\n Many soccer experts regard Liga MX as a cut above MLS. And they rate Toluca as Mexico\u2019s best team. The Red Devils, who attracted several hundred red-clad fans on Wednesday, won both of the league\u2019s championships last year and were unbeaten until they faced SDFC.<\/p>\n \u201cWe relaxed a bit, and the opponent played a great game,\u201d said coach Antonio Mohamed, an Argentine who led Tijuana Xolos for three years.<\/p>\n As grueling as Wednesday\u2019s match was, next week\u2019s rematch could be tougher.<\/p>\n Toluca\u2019s stadium sits 1.6 miles above sea level, giving the Mexican team a large edge. And SDFC will lack Ingvartsen and Duah, who must sit out the rematch after receiving red cards.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are calm,\u201d said Mohamed, who said his players didn\u2019t adapt well to \u201cnew grass\u201d and a \u201cnew ball.\u201d<\/p>\n Dreyer and teammates will tune out the soccer world\u2019s noise, while they prepare for Saturday\u2019s MLS match against Dallas, followed by the game in Central Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about staying grounded,\u201d said Dreyer. \u201cWe\u2019re not thinking like we\u2019re the best.\u201d<\/p>\n This won\u2019t change: for one night against Mexico\u2019s best, they were the better team \u2014 fitter, more connected on both ends and sharper in the final third.<\/p><\/div>\n If San Diego FC players get bonus money based on calories burned, several are now due extra-fat paychecks. A pair of red cards forced the Major League Soccer club to play shorthanded for most of its international match Wednesday night in Mission Valley. San Diego FC answered with its most memorable \u2014 and exhausting \u2014 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SDFC-better-than-Mexicos-best-during-memorable-win-at-Snapdragon.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24283,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24281\/revisions\/24283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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