San Diego FC v Los Angeles FC: ´Everybody´s gutted´ after five straight defeats, says Varas

San Diego FC head coach Mikey Varas admitted “everybody’s gutted” after five consecutive defeats in MLS.

They fell to a late 2-1 loss to the Portland Timbers last time out, conceding a 96th-minute winner in front of their home fans.

San Diego’s last league win came on March 7, a 1-0 victory against Sporting Kansas City, after they started the season with three straight wins.

Their fixture list does not get much easier as they host Los Angeles FC next, but Varas has identified the differences from last year, when San Diego reached the Western Conference finals.

“I think there’s a few things,” said Varas. “One, we’re losing some passes that are turning into big chances for the opponent.

“You know, these are passes that we didn’t miss a lot last year. And so, we’re trying to find that rhythm that gives us that consistency of control over the game and doesn’t lead into transitions.

“That’s one thing that we’ve talked a lot about with the group. I think in previous games, sometimes the pressing intensity wasn’t there, but I think the last two games, the pressing intensity has been really good.

“You can see the guys winning more duels, more divided. I think there’s also a situation where this happens in football, where it’s like, it’s not going in for you, you know?

“We create a couple big chances, the guys hit the frame. So they do a good job, and there’s a blocked shot, goalkeeper makes a good save, it’s the post, whatever it is, that’s life.

“The mood of the group is very disappointed. Everybody’s gutted, because we want to win games for the club and for the city, and at the same time, just really hungry to keep working and get back on track.”

Saturday match loading pic.twitter.com/RPXH3K95xh

— San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) April 30, 2026

LAFC, meanwhile, are third in the Western Conference after they ended their three-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over Minnesota United last time out.

They followed that up with a 2-1 win over Toluca in their Champions Cup semi-final first leg.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Diego FC – Anders Dreyer

Anders Dreyer scored in San Diego’s loss to Portland, giving him 24 goals and 22 assists in 44 career regular-season matches in MLS.

Since the beginning of last season, Dreyer is one of two MLS players with at least 40 regular-season goal contributions (Lionel Messi – 56).

Los Angeles FC – David Martinez

David Martinez tallied his 10th career regular-season goal in their win over Minnesota.

He joins Diego Rossi as players to score double-digit goals for LAFC prior to turning 21 years old.

MATCH PREDICTION – LOS ANGELES FC WIN

LAFC have registered six clean sheets in their first eight regular-season matches in 2026.

Over the last 15 seasons, the only other MLS teams with that many clean sheets through eight games of a season were the Columbus Crew in 2020 and Vancouver Whitecaps in 2012.

San Diego have lost five consecutive matches and are winless in eight straight matches across all competitions (D2 L6).

In their inaugural season of 2025, San Diego’s longest winless run in competitive matches was three (losing streak in April and winless run in September).

However, last season, San Diego beat LAFC in both meetings. Only three teams have had streaks of three or more consecutive regular-season victories against LAFC (San Jose Earthquakes – four, Portland – three, Houston Dynamo – three).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

San Diego FC – 29.8%

Draw – 24.8%

Los Angeles FC – 45.4%