Match Preview - San Diego FC
Game Info
Kickoff: 7:40pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 1W-0D-2L all-time record against San Diego FC.
In the first meeting between these clubs in 2026, San Diego put a club record whoopin’ on the Verde and Black to the tune of 5-0 back in May. SDFC scored early and often to embarrass a rotated Austin FC side, who would go on to lose at home to Sporting KC three days later, a stretch that signaled the end of the road for head coach Nico Estévez and sporting director Rodolfo Borrell.
ATX did win the first ever match between the teams however, a 2-1 home victory in March of last season that included Brandon Vazquez’s first Austin FC goal.
San Diego FC Recent Form
The darlings of MLS in 2025, San Diego FC joined as the league’s 30th club and took the league by storm during their expansion season. After roaring to 63 points in their inaugural campaign, an MLS record for an expansion season, scoring 64 goals. Those 63 points secured them the top seed in the Western Conference, where they eventually bowed out of the playoffs in the Western Conference Final against Vancouver. Naturally, the expectations for this team were set high entering 2026, but this season has not been the same joy ride that their first year was.
Currently sitting in 11th place in the Western Conference and just a point above Austin FC, San Diego is also fighting for their playoff lives. With just eight matches remaining in the regular season, SDFC will be looking to snap a four-game winless streak against an Austin team they thoroughly mauled in the previous meeting back in May.
After a strong start to the season that saw San Diego dispatch Liga MX powerhouse Pumas in CONCACAF Champions Cup, the team won its first three MLS games by an aggregate score of 8-0. A popular pick by national pundits to remain in the upper echelon of the Western Conference, San Diego was proving the believers right early in the year.
Unfortunately for SDFC fans, the team was unable to continue that run of form for very long and ended up being eliminated by Toluca in CCC before losing their next five MLS matches, a streak in which they accumulated an almost unconscionable four red cards.
In fact, San Diego didn’t win a single game between March 14 and May 13th until, you guessed it, Austin FC came to town. But even after that dominant performance against the Verde & Black, SDFC’s struggles continued. They earned a draw against FC Cincinnati and took a loss to Vancouver Whitecaps, hobbling into the World Cup break wondering where the magic from their first season had gone.
The team’s fortunes did change for the better after the break, as they collected 13 points in the table between July 25 to August 29, with victories over FC Dallas, LAFC, Colorado, and LA Galaxy, along with a draw against Minnesota. That stretch saw San Diego climb into a playoff position, but similar to their early season success, the momentum was not sustained. San Diego is currently on a four-game winless streak coming into this match, with losses to Orlando City SC, San Jose Earthquakes and Philadelphia Union, along with a draw against Inter Miami thanks to a late equalizer from Anders Dryer.
While the roster remained relatively untouched in the off season, San Diego did have a nasty divorce from the club’s first-ever designated player, Chucky Lozano. Initially suspended in October 2025 for getting into a verbal altercation with head coach Mikey Varas, the two sides were unable to reconcile, leading to the drawn-out departure of Lozano who is currently on loan with LA Galaxy.
It wasn’t just jettisoning Lozano however, San Diego was quite active during the summer transfer window.
Tyler Heaps, the club’s sporting director, sent out five additional players including sending 20-year-old US youth international fullback Luca Bombino to Stoke City in the EFL Championship. He also did a lot of inbound work as well, bringing in Elias Achouri from FC Copenhagen as the team’s third designated player.
Achouri was acquired for just north of $3 million and is a mostly left-sided attacking player who can play on the right or in a midfield position in a pinch, quite similar to Lozano. Another Danish Superliga talent, midfielder David Mimbang, also joined SDFC on loan from Nordsjaelland with Achouri.
The club has clearly had a ton of success finding players who are either Danish (both existing DPs are Danish nationals) or players in the Superliga in Denmark, but they have poached MLS players as well. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, a member of the “All Name Team” in MLS, arrived in a trade from CF Montreal, Ian Murphy was welcomed from Colorado, and Sam Vines arrived on loan from Houston.
San Diego is a team that loves to control the ball, as the stats show, with their league-best possession number checking in at 59.8% per game. By controlling the ball that often, it should come as no surprise that San Diego is also tops in the league in accurate passes per match. Simply put, they matriculate the ball up the field better than any other team in the league, particularly through the midfield. Their style of play gets everyone involved, but the ball routinely finds its way to the most talented players on the roster.
The most talented on this roster is without question Anders Dreyer, a goal-dangerous right winger with a beautiful left foot. Dreyer paces the club with 22 goal contributions this season, split evenly between goals and assists. He took the league by storm last year, pouring in 23 goals in 41 games across all competitions to go along with 18 direct assists. Dreyer earned MLS Newcomer of the Year thanks to his performance in 2025 and was the league’s MVP runner-up behind Lionel Messi.
Marcus Ingvartsen, the team’s other Danish DP attacker, is tied with Dreyer with 11 goals thus far this season. He’s a formidable striker who pairs well with Dreyer’s visionary passing. He’s gotten over the injury woes that plagued him throughout last season and the two have formed a dynamic duo that has accounted for exactly half of all San Diego’s goals this season.
A name to watch out for that won’t pop out in the stats is Jeppe Tverskov. Tverskov has no goals on the season, but his work in the middle of the park facilitates the offense. Tverskov is a physical on the ball defender, but also a magnet for the ball in the offensive build. He is second in the league with 1,755 completed passes on the season. However, he’s a long way from first place, though, as teammate Manu Duah has racked up an incredible 2,263 completed passes from his center-back position this year. Duah, a 21-year-old Ghanaian defender, is an absolute stud and is called upon routinely to help settle the pace of a game and distribute from the back.
This is a team that wants to control the ball as much as possible and make you pay after forcing you to defend for extended periods. They’ll look to impose their play style in Austin’s home from the first whistle.
Austin FC Recent Form
As mentioned on Episode 337, I’ve pulled the lever on this being a must-win game for Austin FC. With ATX just a point behind San Diego in the Western Conference table, this game is a true “six-pointer”.
We’ll start with what lies ahead for Austin. After the conclusion of this match and the subsequent week off for the international break, Austin will host Supporter’s Shield leading Nashville SC on October 10th, then travel to LAFC for a midweek match on the 14th before then returning home to take on Western Conference frontrunner Vancouver Whitecaps on October 17th in a rematch of this month’s upset win for the Verde & Black.
Despite the recent upset over the Whitecaps, Austin FC will be heavy underdogs in all three of those contests and outclassed in terms of talent on paper by a notable margin. It is not being pessimistic to suggest that Austin could very well not gain a single point from any of those three games. It’s just the reality, and that’s the bad news.
The good news is, as we look a bit further into the future, where ATX will be presented with four very winnable games to close out the season. On October 24th, Austin FC will travel to Sporting Kansas City, who are currently holding the Wooden Spoon. After that, a depleted Real Salt Lake will visit Texas for a midweek match on October 28 before a Halloween road match against LA Galaxy. Then they’ll conclude the regular season by hosting Portland Timbers on Decision Day.
Austin needs to find a way to stay afloat in the wildcard race until those last four games and it starts with this matchup against San Diego. Three points here will go a long, long way for an Austin FC club that is short on time.
Despite sitting just a point above Austin, this San Diego team should not be taken lightly. The Verde and Black, an already depleted team following the summer transfer window, will also be without Joseph Rosales, Guilherme Biro and Przemysław Płacheta. There’s no team in the league that wouldn’t feel the impact of losing a trio of their most talented players, but for an Austin FC team that is already shorthanded, these absences will hurt even more.
Now, if you tuned into Episode 337, you’d be privy to the information that we Recklessly Speculated™ about concerning the potential for both Uzuni and Torres to be available despite their international call ups. Thursday’s media availability with Coach Arnaud revealed that while Torres will be sticking around for this match, Uzuni has already departed ATX for his call up to the Albanian national team and will be unavailable.
It gets real ugly if those two are actually unavailable, as the team is already doing its best to account for the loss of Biro and Rosales. If Davy does not have access to Uzuni and Ervin, then expect to see a lineup that is patched together with Jorge Alastuey and Ilie Sánchez starts. On top of that, Przemysław Płacheta’s status is currently unknown after a knock picked up in training landed him on the injury report before the Dallas game, limiting Davy’s rotation even more.
With those four confirmed absences, Austin FC will be the less talented team on paper when these clubs take the field this weekend, it just is what it is. Still, they have to find a way. If they do, we shouldn’t be shocked, considering that these skeletal roster is somehow on the longest unbeaten streak in league play in Austin FC history at the moment. They’ve been finding ways to earn results. Now they’ve got to make sure this one is a win.
Injury Report
This is an estimate until the league releases official injury reports on Friday afternoon.
ATX:
Przemyslaw Placheta (Out - Lower Body)
Myrto Uzuni (Out - International Duty)
Joseph Rosales (Out - International Duty)
Guilherme Biro (Out - Yellow Card Accumulation Suspension)
SD:
Gabriel Pirani (Questionable - Lower Body)
Alex Mighten (Questionable - Lower Body)
Amahl Pellegrino (Questionable - Lower Body)
Elias Achouri (Out - International Duty)
Onni Valakari (Out - International Duty)
CJ Dos Santos (Out - International Duty)
San Diego FC Players to Watch
Manu Duah - While Dreyer is the sexier choice for this section, Duah is an absolute gem of a soccer player. He’s also probably not long for MLS, even with his recent contract extension, so get your eyes on him now while you still can. The 21-year old Ghanaian defender comes in at 6’4” and 179 pounds. He’s agile, athletic and has quick feet on both sides of the ball. We are seeing an evolution at the centerback position with these taller, more athletic players finding their way into the top leagues all around the world. Duah, who leads MLS in accurate passes, is elite on the ball and in distribution for his position. His ability to glide up the field allows him to stay attached to the midfield where he can serve as a release valve or deliver line-breaking passes to spring San Diego’s dangerous attackers into space. Remember Neil “Mayor” Pierre? Well, he and Duah are cut from the same cloth. Hopefully we aren’t waxing poetic about a dominant Duah performance like we were after Philly came to town last month.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Look! Up in the Sky - You may have heard the rumors that I put in the Guarante-E™ that Brandon Vazquez will score in this game. After some reflection and more time spent contemplating my take, I’ve decided to double down! Once the final whistle blew up in Frisco, The North End boys stuck around to clap the players off the field. I hit Brandon with a Superman pose, he hit me with one back and then gave me a solid point. For someone who is dealing with the visible frustration of being in a prolonged scoring slump, it was nice to see him flash a smile before heading off to the locker room. Regardless of how BV is playing at the moment, this team needs him to find a groove if they’re going to take the next step in the quest for a postseason berth. Some poor play and bad luck have hurt, but there’s never been a better time than now to open his 2026 account. Don’t believe in E magic? Fair. But not only is Brandon Vazquez from the San Diego area, he scored his first ever Austin FC goal against San Diego FC when both teams were without players for International Duty last season. History will repeat itself this Saturday at the Q!
Predictions
ZG - 1-0 Austin FC
E - 2-1 Austin FC
