San Diego FC falls short on the road to the Colorado Rapids

COMMERCE CITY -- Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado ended with San Diego FC claiming their second loss of the season after failing to find the equalizing goal in their 3-2 defeat against the hosting Colorado Rapids.

San Diego FC came into the match off back-to-back home victories as last Saturday saw them defeat the Seattle Sounders in 3-0 blowout fashion with designated player Chucky Lozano stealing the show, netting his first goal for the club and adding a pair of assists. 

Colorado Rapids hoped to get back into the win column coming off a 2-0 road defeat against the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place last Saturday. 

Colorado got off to the races as they tested San Diego’s style of play and identity of defensive highlines and building from the back. 

The Rapids' high pressure led to winning possession in their attacking half and multiple shots with San Diego goalkeeper CJ dos Santos being called on early with a seven-minute diving save off a low-driven shot on target. 

San Diego’s defensive half build-up play led to multiple turnovers in dangerous areas and Rapid counterattacks as CJ dos Santos and defender Paddy McNair were forced to make back-to-back goal-line saves in the 33-minute to keep the match scoreless.

Immediately after regaining the possession, San Diego coughed up the ball once again near their penalty box as Rapids forward Darren Yapi was taken down by San Diego’s CJ dos Santos as he went through Yapi in an attempt to jump on the ball. 

Referee Sergii Boiko blew for the penalty in the 34-minute.

Although CJ dos Santos guessed the right way, he wasn’t able to get enough of a touch to keep Rapids midfielder and captain Djordje Mihailovic’s penalty attempt out as the shot went under the goalkeeper for their deserved 1-0 lead in the 37-minute. 

The first-half whistle blew at that 1-0 scoreline with San Diego struggling to make an offensive impact as their only shot attempt came in the 28-minute from an over-the-bar shot by midfielder Onni Valakari. 

San Diego led in the possession battle 58%-42% but lacked any offensive output as Colorado finished the first 45 minutes with 10 shots, four attempts on target and a created 2.5 expected goals.

After a lackluster half, San Diego stuck back within the first five minutes of the second half from a Luca de la Torre strike.

Forward Chucky Lozano dribbled and laid a pass-off for midfielder Luca de la Torre near the top of the penalty box. Luca de la Torre struck a top-right-corner finish leaving Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen no chance to make a save as San Diego leveled the match at 1-1 in the 50-minute. 

Luca de la Torre recorded his second goal of the season with both goals scored in road matches. 

It only took Colorado three minutes to regain the advantage finding the net at the 53-minute mark. 

Coming off a whipped-in corner kick to the far post, the centered ball was headed back into the heavily populated goal area as the ball fell to Rapids forward Darren Yapi, touching the ball into the net for the 2-1 lead. 

San Diego FC’s highline and push for the equalizing goal would come to haunt them as Colorado doubled up their advantage in the 60-minute off a counterattack. 

After regaining possession, the Rapids countered as San Diego players tried to get back into their defensive positions. Midfielder Cole Bassett and forward Rafael Navarro connected for a one-two as Bassett found Navarro open near the penalty marker and he fired an unsavable top-right corner finish for the 3-1 lead. 

This marked the first time San Diego FC have conceded three goals in a single match this season. 

Tomás Ángel set up a dramatic finish as the San Diego FC forward tucked a left-footed driven shot into the left side netting of the goal at the 89-minute mark, cutting the deficit to one goal with six minutes of added time remaining in search of an equalizer. 

Tomás Ángel found the net for the first time in a San Diego FC kit as he opened up his scoring tally for the MLS 2025 season. 

Colorado was able to hold on to their lead for the remaining time as San Diego fell 3-2 on the road recording their second loss of the season, dropping three points twice on the road. 

At the post-match press conference, San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas spoke on the losing performance and takeaways from the match against the Colorado Rapids. 

“We made a mistake in the build-up, two mistakes in a row which again is part of who we are,” Varas said. “So it's not a problem that we try to play through on those but we made some uncharacteristic mistakes today in terms of just technical executions."

“We weren't probably ruthless enough with the chances we created and then we also gave up too many chances,” Varas said. 

“So we'll have a lot of learning lessons from this game but I would say the positives are we're going to learn something from the game and take that into next week's away game,” Varas said. “We did play with initiative, the boys fought till the end, could have made it 3-3 even not playing our best.”

After the conclusion of Saturday’s match, San Diego FC remained on 14 points gained in the MLS Western Conference standings with four wins, two draws and two losses on the season. 

“It wasn't our best game,” San Diego FC midfielder and captain Jeppe Tverskov said. “We thought we had good opportunities here playing a lot but we never really got the rhythm during the game."

San Diego FC continues their road trip heading to Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina to face off against Charlotte FC on April 19 for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff. 

Next Saturday’s matchup against Charlotte marks their first road match against an Eastern Conference club as San Diego looks to improve to a positive road record currently sitting at two wins and two losses.