San Diego FC continues poor home form with 1-0 loss vs. San Jose

San Diego FC owner Mohamed Mansour is a global tycoon worth north of $3 billion, with 60,000 employees working in 120 countries, making multimillion-dollar business deals on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis from his headquarters in London.

That doesn’t make him nervous, he insists. His soccer club on the other side of the world does.

Mansour watched his second game in person at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night, which means he didn’t have to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to watch on TV and hold his breath for 90 minutes.

“This team,” he says, tapping his chest, “gives me a heart attack.”

He still hasn’t witnessed it score here after the San Jose Earthquakes made an early goal hold up in a 1-0 victory in the regular-season home finale before an announced crowd of 29,437. The other game he attended in person, the March 1 home opener, was a 0-0 tie against St. Louis City.In all, SDFC took 34 shots in the two games. Zero goals.

It makes for a heart-thumping close to the season for the chrome and azul, relinquishing their hold on sole possession of first place in the Western Conference. Vancouver, with a 2-2 tie at Seattle, also has 57 points now but has three games left compared to SDFC’s two.

Minnesota United is third with 55 points and two games left. Surging LAFC and South Korean star Son Heung-min have 53 but four games left.

The loss continues a curious run of form for SDFC. It is unbeaten in eight straight MLS road games … and has won just one of its last seven at home (two ties, four losses). And that win came back on July 25.

“It’s a long time since we won (a league game) at home,” Danish winger Anders Dreyer said. “We know it in the dressing room as well. I hope it’s because we save it for the playoffs.

“We’ve had some tough games here. I think it also shows that the teams who come here, they respect us a lot and the way we play. They make it difficult for us. … They want to sit back and they don’t care if they have to sit with six guys in the back or whatever.”

Five weeks ago, they faced the Earthquakes in San Jose, trailed 1-0 in the 80th minute and got a pair of late goals for a 2-1 victory.

There was no such drama Saturday night after Josef Martinez gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute, slotting home a shot from 10 yards when Christian Arango unlocked a patchwork SDFC back line with a perfectly weighted pass.

The back line: 19-year-old Aiden Harangi, making his third MLS start, at right back; Christopher McVey and rookie Manu Duah at center back; and rookie Ian Pilcher, a usual center back, playing on the left because regular starter Luca Bombino is in Chile with the U.S. team for the under-20 World Cup.

That probably should have made it 1-1, given the chance Hirving “Chucky” Lozano had in the fourth minute when he escaped behind the San Jose defense. Lozano chipped the charging goalkeeper, only for his shot toward an empty net to sail wide right.

It was a recurring theme. Two other golden chances – both by Onni Valakari, one from point blank range in the first half, the other a free kick just outside the box in the second half – just drifted wide right as well.

The early goal allowed the Earthquakes to bunker even more, routinely putting 10 and sometimes all 11 men behind the ball.

The most shots SDFC had previously attempted in a game without finding the net was 15, in the March 1 scoreless draw against St. Louis City. Saturday night, it fired 19.

Or look at this way. SDFC’s xG, or statistical expected goals, was 1.45 on Saturday versus San Jose’s .51.

“We controlled most of the game,” captain Jeppe Tverskov said. “We controlled most of their transitions. But we also have to admit we have to be tougher. It was a goal out of nothing. We need to be able to stop those counters easier, because we have the game in our hands.

“I still feel there’s a lot of things we did good today even though we didn’t score goals. That’s also why we have our heads high. But of course, we need to win the games. That’s something we talked about in the locker room. We need to cut off mistakes that make us get behind, because then games get more difficult.”

SDFC closes the regular season with a pair of road games at Houston on Oct. 4 and Portland on Oct. 18, then awaits its postseason assignment. It has already clinched a spot in the top four of the Western Conference, guaranteeing home-field advantage in the best-of-three first round that begins Oct. 24.

Its opponent is anyone’s guess. Given the logjam fighting for playoff spots, it could mathematically be any of eight teams.

That includes the Earthquakes, who jumped three spots to ninth with the win. The eighth- and ninth-place teams enter a play-in game on Oct. 22 for the right to face the conference’s top seed.

The loss also prevented a “California sweep” by SDFC, which already won both meetings against each of the LA Galaxy and LAFC.

“There is a big hunger in the dressing room to make that top, top performance at home after two months without a win at home,” Dreyer said. “I think, I know, the hunger is to win, especially in front of our home fans. That’s for sure.”