SDFC opens strong, but fades, settling for draw ahead of final match at home
Dante Ulanday - News Moderator 
Atlanta United played San Diego FC to a 1-1 draw on Saturday in their first-ever matchup.
Miguel Almirón powered the ball past CJ dos Santos on a penalty kick in the 61st minute – dos Santos had been whistled for a foul on Jamal Thiaré during a breakaway – and Jayden Hibbert made a nice save of Chucky Lozano’s header in stoppage time to keep SDFC from winning.
San Diego (17-8-6), which leads the Western Conference, moved into a tie with the 2018 LAFC team for the MLS expansion record of 57 points. SDFC remains in second place in the Supporters’ Shield race behind the Philadelphia Union, with 60 points.
San Diego is also tied with St. Louis for the most wins in a debut season at 17, set in 2023.
Atlanta (5-13-12), already has been eliminated from playoff contention, but has only one loss in its last four games.
Anders Dreyer opened the scoring in the 32nd with his 15th goal this season for SDFC. He has 33 goal contributions this season.
Lozano stole it deep in Atlanta territory and fed it across the goal for a wide-open Dreyer.
A victory would have made San Diego the first team in MLS history to win eight consecutive road matches. Four other teams have won seven straight away from home, with Cincinnati the last to do so in 2024.
“Feels like two points dropped because I think we started pretty decent, good first half, not excellent, but good. And then the second half, we weren’t good,” head coach Mikey Varas said bluntly.
“We didn’t have a good second half, and I think we’re fortunate to come out with a point. But we take it. That’s part of the learning process. And we’ll take the learning lessons from this.”
Added Dreyer, “Right now, we have one point in two games and, and I think we sit in there and if we look at 65 minutes against Minnesota and 45 against Atlanta today, we think we should have had more points. But yeah, we need to keep that level for 90 minutes before it’s a real success.”
SDFC returns home for its final regular season home match at Snapdragon Stadium on Sept. 27, hosting the San Jose Earthquakes with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.
