Tom Krasovic: San Diego FC’s often-overlooked defense has been key to expansion-year success

by Tom Krasovic

When the season began, San Diego FC stole matches from their opponents. The upstart franchise emphasized offense more than many teams do.

Among the Major League Soccer analysts who praised the bold style was Jay Nolly, a former MLS goalkeeper. But the ex-backstop wondered if San Diego’s goal-hunting offense would overburden its goal-prevention efforts.

“People are gonna pick ‘em apart as the season comes along,” Nolly, a radio analyst for Real Salt Lake, said late in San Diego’s 3-1 victory March 8.

Lending weight to Nolly’s point, Real Salt Lake won the rematch in San Diego, 3-1, in late April.

And then, in a few matches that followed, SDFC’s opponent, more attuned to the first-year club’s tendencies, turned lapses in spacing and ball control into goals and victories.

But, as a whole, the ex-goalkeeper’s warning hasn’t proved out.

Twenty-eight games into the 34-game season, San Diego stands among MLS’ leaders on both offense and defense. The club is tied for third in goals scored and eighth in goals allowed. The San Diego newbies, as a result, sit atop the 15-team Western Conference. Going into their next match, Sunday night at LAFC, they trail only the Philadelphia Union in points.

The defense, it turned out, wasn’t a weakness. It was, in time, a strength.

“I have to give credit to our coaches,” said Christopher McVey, a pillar defender who has appeared in 26 matches at center back. “We’ve been really solid.”

McVey praised the teaching of assistant coach Frank Hjortebjerg, a defensive expert who coached with San Diego FC’s partner club in Denmark for three-plus years before joining the expansion club.

A ninth-year professional, McVey said the coaches have effectively taught all players where they must be regardless of the situation -– an essential level of accountability that, for the most part, has held up even as numerous inexperienced players worked into the lineup.

The hard-earned trust in one another’s actions has allowed the 11 players to play as one.

McVey, 28, has reaped a personal bonus from the concise coaching: he’s been freed up to develop his game by not having to direct traffic as much.

“I’ve been loving it here,” said McVey, a Swede who played in his home country for five years before logging three MLS seasons, two with Inter Miami and the 2024 season with D.C. United. “I’m improving individually. I’ve been really happy, and I think I’ve had a very good year.”

Availing himself of his lighter burden, McVey has made himself a key cog in San Diego’s FC much-trusted build-up game, which serves up the smallest number, by far, of goalkeeper passes of 40-plus yards.

He’s second on the team in passes completed, passes attempts and touches.

Keeping opponents honest, he’ll drive by them on select occasions. With eight successful duels in 13 tries, his .615 win rate leads the team among players with 10-plus take-ons.

McVey’s combination of physicality and stamina, too, help out.

MLS is a grown man’s league. Ruggedness shows up across the 90 minutes. McVey, who’s 6-foot-3 ½ and 181 pounds, holds his ground. His power and altitude diversify the team’s set-piece options.

“He’s nasty,” said an appreciative Manny Machado, the Padres’ third baseman and an investor in MLS who mentioned McVey as a personal favorite.

“Awesome,” said McVey of Machado’s compliment, adding that he watched the Padres “smoke” the Giants in a recent game he attended.

With 10 shutouts, San Diego FC stands third in shutout percentage. Their goalkeepers hold fourth place in save percentage at 75.4.

Though McVey gets a chunk of the credit for the defense’s success, the futbol he plays isn’t half as specialized as American football. Defenders and offensive players complement one another throughout the match, while never coming off the field.

“When you say defense,” he said, “a lot of people think it’s the back line. But it’s the whole team.”

Up front, he noted, SDFC’s forwards and attacking midfielders, led by Denmark’s Anders Dreyer — who stands fourth in MLS minutes played and first in assists — have mastered a high-press style.

Defensive midfielder and captain Jeppe Tverskov, another tireless Dane, leads the league in interceptions and touches.

Several rookie defenders, including Manu Duah, who stands 6-4 and draws upon his experiences as a defensive midfielder, have learned from mistakes that ultimately didn’t prevent the team from positioning itself to reach the postseason.

Ahead, it’s anyone’s guess whether the first-year club can finish its journey as well as it began it.

In MLS, postseason competition can differ greatly from a regular season that produces huge variance in quality of play due to fatigue and rampant lineup turnover.

McVey isn’t ready to preview the playoffs. But the fourth-year MLS player said the large body of work matters.

“Just us sticking to our principles and our style of play,” he said. “If we keep doing that, the results will come.”

GET MORE INFORMATION

Andre Hobbs

Andre Hobbs

San Diego Broker | Military Veteran | License ID: 01485241

+1(619) 349-5151

Name
Phone*
Message