Crowd turns on SDFC in 1-0 loss ahead of conference showdown
In its first game after losing two veteran players – one of whom had played a key role for the team this season – San Diego FC struggled versus Toronto FC Wednesday before losing 1-0 atSnapdragon Stadium. Toronto played strong defense all match; the one goal came in first half on a penalty kick by Toronto striker Theo Corbeanu during the 20th minute. The free kick came after being fouled by SDFC left back Franco Negri and he made the most of it by connecting with a right-footed shot to the middle-right zone of the net. With the loss, San Diego’s record falls to 13-7-3, with 42 points, which still leads the Western Conference. SDFC forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano attempts to even the score in the final minutes on July 16. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego) Toronto now has a 5-11-6 record, still one of the worst in the Eastern Conference and all of Major League Soccer. San Diego has performed well against the best teams in the league this season, including Seattle, Minnesota and Vancouver, but has struggled against the bad ones. In addition to losing to Toronto, SDFC has suffered losses against Real Salt Lake and the Houston Dynamo, as well as a scoreless draw against St. Louis City SC. Each of those sides has had sub-.500 records much of the season. The announced attendance was 23,514, and boos rained down from in the crowd onto the pitch after the final whistle, a rarity for a club that has enjoyed solid fan support so far thisseason, win or lose. “We gotta be better on the ball. We gotta do better,” San Diego defender Chris McVey said after the match. “Today, we were a little too sloppy on the ball; we gave away the ball too easily.” Head coach Mikey Varas said the club needs to move on from the loss quickly because SDFC next plays the Vancouver Whitecaps, a club that ruled the Western Conference standings until recently. Emotions heat up as Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and a Toronto player nearly exchange blows. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego) “I could sit here and talk about officiating and all the things that I feel went against us tonight, but all of us know that we can do better than that. We have a(nother) match in three days andneed to bounce back,” he said. “There’s no point in dwelling on (this loss) for too long,” he added. The match came the day after SDFC announced that forward Milan Iloski and the club mutually have agreed to a loan termination, effective immediately. The 25-year-old will now rejoin Danish Superliga team FC Nordsjælland, which in April loaned Iloski to SDFC through July. Iloski, an Escondido native, was the club’s second leading scorer, with 10 goals and one assist in 14 matches played. Also, the expansion side announced earlier Wednesday that it has terminated the contract of 27-year-old German defender Jasper Löffelsend. The team selected Löffelsend last December in the MLS expansion draft, and during his time with San Diego, he played in 13 of 22 matches, starting seven. He scored no goals with the club, but did have three assists. SDFC has five consecutive matches at home, including Saturday’s rematch against Vancouver, and a July 21 contest against Nashville SC. The side then plays three Leagues Cup matches against Liga MX teams at Snapdragon Stadium: CF Pachuca on July 29; Tigres UANL on Aug. 1 and Mazatlán FC on Aug. 5. Notes: San Diego announced that it has signed U.S. youth international defender Aiden Harangi on loan from German Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt for the remainder of the season. Harangi, 19 and a Virginia native, spent the past six years in Eintracht Frankfurt’s youth system.
