San Diego FC clinches playoff spot in first Major League Soccer season

At this time a year ago, San Diego FC had five signed players on other teams, no coach, no jersey design, no season-ticket holders and a 33-year-old general manager who officially was given the job a week earlier.

And now?

The expansion club has clinched a spot in the Major League Soccer playoffs … with six regular-season games remaining.

Or, more accurately, 6½.

They entered Saturday night needing a win or tie against the visiting Portland Timbers and drew 0-0 before an announced crowd of 27,810 at Snapdragon Stadium. By halftime, they had already mathematically secured one of the Western Conference’s nine postseason spots. That’s because there were 12 other scenarios to clinch, and the 11th was happening in three stadiums across the country.

San Diego FC needed a Houston loss (2-1 against San Jose); an Austin loss or tie (3-2 at Montreal); and a Real Salt Lake loss or tie (3-1 against Minnesota). It is the earliest an expansion team has qualified for the MLS playoffs.

SDFC is closing in on two other expansion milestones as well: 57 total points by LAFC in 2018, and 17 wins by St. Louis City in 2023. It currently has 53 and 16, respectively.

They’re also the first expansion team to win six straight road games. And Danish winger Anders Dreyer already shattered the record for goal contributions with 30 (13 goals, 17 assists), previously held by LAFC’s Carlos Vela with 27.

It’s impressive … to everyone except the coach.

“In my opinion,” Mikey Varas said earlier this week, “I think records and all that are good memories to have later on. I don’t think they serve you so much in terms of thinking about them (now). I actually didn’t know. I don’t follow a lot of that stuff.

“Our job is to prepare with a relentless mentality to play brave, to show a fighting team spirit, to make sure we work really hard, really intentionally, and that we believe great things are possible. And then we go out there and just let it fly.”

Portland was the final Western Conference team that had not faced the SDFC phenomenon, with both games coming in the tail end of the season. (The road game in Portland is the regular-season finale on Oct. 18.)

The Timbers were able to control the ball more than most SDFC opponents despite creating only a few half-chances. But that limited the offensive opportunities for an SDFC team that had gone seven games in all competitions without being shut out.

Part of the issue is that teams are slowly finding tactical answers to SDFC’s unique high-pressure, high-risk style. Part of the issue is that SDFC is increasingly banged up.

The injured list now numbers nine players after Escondido native Corey Baird, a recent acquisition from FC Cincinnati who started up top, hobbled off with an apparent groin injury in the first half Saturday night. Danish striker Marcus Ingvartsen is in the midst of a second lengthy injury spell this season, and the club opted against signing replacement Milan Iloski to a long-term deal when his loan spell ended last month.

Hirving “Chucky” Lozano started but has been bothered by a balky ankle and subbed out in the 82nd minute, as did ironman midfielder Luca de la Torre.

SDFC found the net twice in the first half and appeared to win a penalty kick in the 90th minute. All three were overruled after referee Rosendo Mendoza went to the video monitor. In the latter instance, Mendoza whistled a handball against Portland defender Dario Zuparic, only to see on replay that Amahl Pelligrino’s cross in the box smacked off his hip, not his arm.

The tie kept SDFC (16-7-5) in first place in the Western Conference by three points but put it a point behind the Philadelphia Union for the league’s best record. Two tough games loom on the immediate horizon: at fourth-place LAFC on Aug. 31 and home against second-place Minnesota United on Sept. 13. That’s followed by three of the final four on the road.

“Now we have a target on our back as opposed to being the ones that are going after teams,” sporting director Tyler Heaps said this week. “But I think we’ve done a good job to stay level-headed. And look, there’s (six) games to play and everything to play for, right? So we’ve at least got ourselves in this situation.”

The final whistle Saturday was met with boos for the replay decisions, then cheers when a graphic appeared on the scoreboard showing SDFC players celebrating with a single word above:

“Clinched.”