Top-seeded SDFC heads to playoffs – with sights set on making more history

Dante Ulanday - News Moderator Dante Ulanday - News Moderator
Oct 23, 2025 - 21:00
Top-seeded SDFC heads to playoffs – with sights set on making more history
SDFC gathers joyfully on the pitch in a game that they need to win for the conference's top seed in the playoffs.
SDFC gathers joyfully on the pitch in a game that they need to win for the conference's top seed in the playoffs.
SDFC celebrated on a damp night in Portland after their win clinched the top seed in the Western Conference for the playoffs. (Photo courtesy San Diego FC)

After an historic inaugural season, the San Diego Football Club is headed to the playoffs as the top team in the Western Conference.

They’ll face the Portland Timbers in a best-of-three, first round series that starts Sunday at Snapdragon Stadium, a week after defeating them 4-0 in the regular-season finale. The teams also played to a scoreless draw in August, with San Diego FC generating better opportunities throughout.

SDFC forward David Vazquez battling for possession during the match versus the Portland Timbers at Snapdragon Stadium on August 23. (Photo courtesy David Frerker)
SDFC forward David Vazquez battling for possession during the match versus the Portland Timbers at Snapdragon Stadium on August 23. (Photo courtesy David Frerker)

SDFC’s victory last weekend forced the Timbers to play a first-round playoff game Wednesday night, in which they defeated Real Salt Lake 3-1.

SDFC now enters Sunday’s matchup with a rest advantage – and head coach Mikey Varas said Thursday that star forward Hirving Lozano would be available after he missed the team’s final game.

The team has already made its mark on the Major League Soccer record book this year, registering the most points of any team in its inaugural season, tying the mark for most road points by any team and racking up the most consecutive road wins ever. They’re just the second expansion team to win its conference.

And now they’re looking to become the first expansion team to win a championship since the Chicago Fire in 1998.

But it hasn’t all been easy for the team in its first year. Lozano missed several weeks after suffering a hamstring injury on March 1.

Before he missed last week’s game, Lozano appeared to confront the coaches for removing him early from an October 4 game against the Houston Dynamo. That led Varas to confirm Thursday that Lozano would play Sunday. 

The team also had to deal with whether forward Milan Iloski, who signed with SDFC on April 2, would continue with the club after July.

Iloski became nothing short of lightning in a bottle, scoring 12 goals in 15 appearances including a four-goal performance versus the Vancouver Whitecaps on June 25, but he eventually signed a permanent deal with the Philadelphia Union on August 5, keeping him there until 2027. 

San Diego FC and Portland are set to kick off this Sunday at 6:30 pm, if the game is tied after 90 minutes of regulation, the teams go directly to a penalty-kick shootout.

Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday, October 26 at Providence Park and, if necessary, they will return to Snapdragon Stadium on November 1 for the rubber match.

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