Chucky Lozano, Anders Dreyer score as SDFC beats LAFC

LOS ANGELES — In its quest to make history Sunday night, San Diego FC found itself in the middle of a party.

Son Heung-min, the former Tottenham Hotspur star and captain of South Korea’s national team, made his home debut for the Los Angeles Football Club in front of an exuberant sellout crowd of 22,937, a record at BMO Stadium that included about 600 SDFC fans. South Korean flags and Son’s jerseys from his national team, current club and previous club peppered the stands.

But in their quest to make history, the guests turned into party poopers.

Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Anders Dreyer enabled SDFC to overcome an early deficit and earn a 2-1 victory that allowed the club to move five points ahead of second-place Minnesota United two weeks before their pivotal matchup at Snapdragon Stadium.

SDFC (17-7-5) used its seventh consecutive road victory to tie St. Louis City FC’s record for most wins by an expansion team in its debut season. The club also positioned itself one point behind LAFC’s mark for most points by a first-year expansion team, 57 in 2018, and drew within one point of the Philadelphia Union for the Supporters’ Shield.

Dreyer broke a 1-1 tie in the 66th minute with his 14th goal by taking advantage of an inexperienced defense. Jeppe Tverskov sent a long ball between LAFC defenders Eddie Segura and Artem Smolyakov to Dreyer who raced to the penalty area.

When Segura and Smolyakov caught Dreyer, the Dane stopped, took two long touches to his left and fired a 9-yard shot that deflected into the goal.

Smolyakov helped constitute a patchwork backline. Two of LAFC’S regular defensive starters, Ryan Hollingshead and Aaron Long, were unavailable because of a yellow-card suspension and a torn Achilles, respectively. A third starter, midfielder Igor Jesus, is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

SDFC then needed critical defensive plays to maintain its lead.

In the 74th minute, Christopher McVey tackled Son’s shot away from behind as the Korean was about to strike from 14 yards. In the 77th, McVey slide-tackled a pass in the penalty area intended for Son. The right post wore chrome and azul one minute later when it stopped Son’s line-drive shot. Then in the 82nd, goalkeeper C.J. dos Santos stopped Denis Bouanga on a breakaway at point-blank range.

During second-half stoppage time, which lasted nine minutes, dos Santos dived to his right to catch Son’s 18-yard shot, then Tverskov blocked Son’s 17-yard shot.

LAFC (11-7-8) took early control by dictating the pace. The hosts applied high pressure and man-to-man marking to pin San Diego in its own end, allowing Bouanga to score the game’s first goal and his 15th of the year in the 15th minute.

David Martinez’s pass from the right wing found Bouanga, who let the ball bounce in the penalty area before chipping a half-volley from 11 yards over the right hand of dos Santos.

Bouanga almost extended the margin to 2-0 in the 26th minute but after Sergi Palencia sent a long ball to him from the right side, Bouanga’s 4-yard shot bounced past the far post.

Seven minutes later, Lozano tied the score with his ninth goal. Dreyer’s high midfield pass freed the Mexican international, who beat defender Nkosi Tafari, another emergency defender, took two touches to his right and fired a 16-yard shot that froze goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Dreyer earned his league-leading 18th assist.

Dos Santos kept the score tied with two big plays in the 45th minute. He punched away teammate Manu Duah’s deflection of Bouanga’s blocked 19-yard shot, then leaned to his right to deflect Son’s 20-yard line drive with both hands.

— JOSEPH D’HIPPOLITO