SAN DIEGO – San Diego FC faced St. Louis City to a 0-0 draw during the Major League Soccer expansion team’s debut home match on Saturday evening.
Despite dominating possession with 67.1% and taking 14 shots, San Diego was unable to defeat St. Louis’ goalkeeper Roman Bürki and his formidable defense. Meanwhile, St. Louis fired just two shots but ensured both were on target against San Diego’s CJ dos Santos.
The lack of goals did little to diminish the excitement at Snapdragon Stadium, which was fully packed with 34,506 enthusiastic fans celebrating Major League Soccer’s 30th franchise’s homecoming. Prior to this match, San Diego began their season impressively last week with a 2-0 win against the reigning MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy.
During the match, Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, San Diego’s marquee signing as their first designated player, departed in the 31st minute, seemingly due to a leg injury. The Mexican national winger has previously faced injury challenges while playing in European leagues in the Netherlands and Italy.
Although San Diego maintained an aggressive approach throughout the game, they officially registered only one shot on goal. Marcus Ingvartsen came close with a promising header inside the box in the 74th minute, but unfortunately, it flew over the crossbar.
Notably, the audience in San Diego received three warnings in the second half due to the use of a homophobic chant, which is often heard during matches involving the Mexico men’s national team.
