CONCACAF is around the corner…
The excitement or San Diego FC’s second season is palpable. Everyone on San Diego FC’s fan page has been vocal and impatient (Like me!) for our Azul y Chrome team to finally set foot at Snapdragon Stadium under the lights and ready to ball out. It has been a short period of time since we last saw our team on the field. Unfortunately, it was the Western Conference Final that saw Vancouver White Caps eliminate San Diego FC 3-1. Sine November 30, 2025, the fans have been waiting and searching online for any piece of news of what the team has been up to and what to expect for the 31st season of the MLS. This time, the fans have an expectation since the club raised that bar on their first year making us spoiled freshmen fans.
Little by little news started coming out. Mostly it was about roster changes. Who are we signing, who are we keeping, who are getting extensions, and who are getting cut. The celebrations online about Ander’s Dreyer signing a new deal with the club was joyous and relief for many of us knowing that he had an amazing performance that would have definitely gotten Europe knocking on the door. Another player to get a contract and extension that was met with joy was the amazing kid wonder, Luca Bombino who was a loaded player from LAFC. Now he is officially a San Diego FC player, many of us feel the comfort that our Left Back position is well secured. More news came out confirming other players such as Onni Valakari, Anibal Godoy, and Jeppe Tverskov were returning to the squad. The new signings for the team drew little fan fair as many do not know who these players are such as Wilson Eisner and Kieran Sargeant. Expectations were more focused on the forward position especially that cursed number 9 striker. That position has drawn so much attention due to notable injuries and the failed attempt of keeping Milan Iloski in the fray. Finally, the club announced the signing of a striker from New York Red Bulls, Morgan Lewis. a Proper striker who had an amazing record with RBNY in 2024. However, fans were also cautious as his 2025 season was marred with injuries which saw him off the squad for majority of the season. A feeling of uncertainty and clouds the fans. The so-called ‘ghost of Iloski’ curse has still not been exorcised from our hearts and minds. However, there is also still hope that Marcus Ingvarsten, our first year striker who was mostly unavailable, is back and shown to be healthy. This still doesn’t give us fans confidence, but we remain hopeful.
As much good news as we have received, there were also some unfortunate cuts that many fans were not expecting. Another homegrown talent has not been re-signed. One of the fan favorites, Luca De La Torre. There are many of those (including myself) who were disappointed as we have invested in his jersey thinking he was a shoe-in signing. Disappointment mumbled, but many fans also said they saw this coming as his second half of the 1st season performance was fading and that Onni Valakari has snatched that starter positions from him. This triggered some of the fans as it reminded us of what we felt when we lost Iloski who was from Escondido. The hope of a hometown hero still being part of the squad was pulled away once again. It didn’t help either that Corey Baird, who was also from Escondido and a number 9 was not renewed for the 2026 season. This was frustrating for many. But alas, this was not the most heartbreaking news.
You could hear the heartbeat of thousands of San Diego FC fans stop in unison once our sporting director Tyler Heaps and head coach Mikey Varas confirmed…Hirving “Chucky” Lozano will no longer be part of the plans of San Diego FC moving forward. It was an eruption of anger, disappointment, shock, and disbelief among the fanbase. Hysteria and passion started spilling out all over social media. Die hard Chucky fans using all caps screaming at the top of their keyboards insulting and demeaning the leadership of San Diego FC and denounced their fandom of the team. Declaration of season tickets being cancelled rang across fan group pages were painted with red anger! Many came out with accusations of trickery or prejudice. Many insulting Mikey Varas’ coaching and leadership, or the intelligence of Tyler Heaps. These fans turned into online mobs of haters.
To be fair, many fans actually agreed with the decision as they remembered that in the latter half of season 1, Chucky was disciplined by the team for his descent and behavior in the locker room as what was reported by many news sources and press interviews, and compounded with the fact that Chucky was not healthy for a good part of the season and could not last a full 90 plus minutes. Accusations of being ‘poisonous’ in the locker room, and history of being a ‘diva’ was shared heavily which further fired up the “Pro-Chucky” movement. The fanbase was fractured. The debates started turning into keyboard warfare and troll-ism.
As days turned into weeks since the announcement, some of the rhetoric started to die down with leveler heads started intervening with the call to unite once again as fans of San Diego FC regardless of whether the decision was right or wrong. There was an agreement that both sides do want to see this club become champions. But the pro-Chucky fans still hinted pessimism in their tone.
On a lighter note, a leak of the new community kit came out which steered up the fans once again and brought back a sense of unity. The fans looked at this image from a reddit source and confirmed all together with one voice: “Well that looks like crap!”. The fans started sharing jokes and negative comments from all sides of the 18 threads. a piece of humor that broke some of the tension. The image was of a white jersey with a lighter blue color trim, and a hideous sloppy stain design running through and around the jersey making it look like ketchup stains. It was agreed by all that this was “Not a good look”.
It is now 5 days out till San Diego FC faces Pumas UANL in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Frontera SD has been practicing and writing new chants and songs to welcome back our heroes to the pitch. The tone online from the fans are finally showing a sign of unison as they all are once again expressing their excitement for the first game of 2026. The excitement is indeed, palpable.
