Moments before Hirving “Chucky” Lozano struck for his first goal as a member of San Diego FC, theclub’s star forward kicked an errant paper cup in frustration.
Lozano sailed an attempt over the crossbar off of Anders Dreyer’s set piece, just misplacing a quality opportunity in SDFC’s 3-0 win over the Seattle Sounders on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
“We’re creating a lot of chances on goal, and that first one I had that went over the goal, sometimes that’s just how soccer is,” Lozano said through a translator. “You have to keep trying until you get that one.”
Lozano waited less than two minutes for redemption, however, booting a right-footed shot going to his left on a breakaway. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei had no play on the attempt, which punctuated the second three-goal first half in as many matches for SDFC (4-1-2).
Along the same endline where he had been punting a cup minutes earlier, Lozano ran over to the erupting fans and offered a celebratory dance. The play highlighted his first time earning “Man of the Match” for SDFC, Major League Soccer’s newest franchise.
The stoppage-time goal, set up by a Jasper Loffelsend assist, was SDFC’s second score late in the half.
Dreyer assisted Anibal Godoy on another breakaway goal at the 41st minute. Dreyer deked Seattle defender Jonathan Bell, cutting back on the run and then dumping the ball off to a streaking Godoy.
Godoy skillfully placed a left-footed shot that zipped under Frei’s glove to the bottom corner of the goal.
The quick pair of goals put on display the potential SDFC has with its wingers Dreyer and Lozano at full strength and on the pitch together.
“This sport is collective by nature,” SDFC coach Mikey Varas said. “Individually, each one is so talented. But when they create a connection on and off the field, their talent becomes exponentially stronger, because one plus one, when it comes to Irving and Anders working well together, does not equal two. It equals much more than two.”
The sequence between Dreyer and Godoy ended almost 40 minutes of scoreless soccer in Saturday’s MLS Cup competition.
SDFC needed fewer than 80 seconds to strike first against a Seattle team that was winless in its previous three MLS Cup matches heading into Saturday.
Jeppe Tverskov beat Frei on a shot from straight on in the box, created with a Lozano cross coming out of an early corner kick. The assist was Lozano’s first in an SDFC home match, with his other coming in the 2-0 win at LA Galaxy on Feb. 23.
Tverskov’s goal was his first with the club.
“I’m not used to being one of the guys getting up in the box from my position,” Tverskov, a defensive midfielder, said with a laugh. “So it’s kind of nice that the one time I’ve been up there the whole season, I score a goal.”Seattle (1-3-3) was not without opportunities. The Sounders maintained possession for 57.2% of the match, attempted more shots than SDFC at 14-10, and had as many shots on goal as the hosts with four.
Varas credited SDFC’s defensive approach for shutting out Seattle despite the Sounders’ aggressive play.
“There are a couple of priorities: One is that it’s always together and always compact,” he said. “So you see a team that travels together. You don’t see a team that gets split too often into different islands.”
SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos also proved to be impenetrable in the net, stopping all four Sounders shots on goal.
Dos Santos punctuated his clean sheet with a point-blank stop of a Danny Musovski attempt in the 87th minute.
