Tom Krasovic: Soccer nights at Snapdragon Stadium show city, MLS an inspired fit

The enthusiasm percolating among some 32,000 fans attending the first Major League Soccer playoff game staged in San Diego brought to mind the organic crowd energy of the Padres’ first postseason games here four decades ago.

The soccer-crowd vibe for SDFC’s 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers on Oct. 26 was festive and charged. The freshness of the event was felt. It was very “celebrate good times” without NFL-style bombast.

Pregame introductions, followed by two quick goals from the home team, cranked up the depth of involvement. Like in 1984, there was a less-orchestrated feel. Compare that to Padres games today, with near-constant bells and whistles at Petco Park, where 81 games are played each year.

At San Diego FC’s matches, the sound system and video displays take a remote backseat to what’s happening on the pitch.

Because in soccer, the game really is the thing. The futbol flows, so the fans flow with it. It’s a game with a pulse, whistle to whistle.

Baseball is a smartphone sport. The frequent stoppages allow fans to phone-surf without missing balls and strikes.

Celebrate having a different flavor to choose from.

With San Diego FC’s postseason in doubt beyond Sunday, when coach Mikey Varas’ team will face the visiting Portland Timbers in a lose-or-go-home first-round match, it’s time to commend the many local soccer fans who insisted for many years that an MLS team, if given the chance, would spice up San Diego’s professional sports scene.

These folks were right.

SDFC’s regular-season contests, typically played on Saturday nights, attracted good-sized and vocal crowds to the 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium.

Numerous supporters gathered behind the north goal and chanted, sang, danced, waved flags and banged drums for the better part of the match’s 90 minutes.

Befitting our city and soccer’s standing as the world’s game, recorded greetings from SDFC players and coaches speaking in English and Spanish added to the fan experience.

Attention, SDFC: Might want to sprinkle in some Danish next year, although it won’t be a surprise if Denmark’s Anders Dreyer, the team’s MVP and MLS’ Newcomer of the Year, attracts offers from Europe.

Though the longtime advocates for a San Diego MLS club could not have known the first team here would serve up a top-five goals scored total and a bold style much-praised by opponents and visiting broadcasters, those true believers helped make possible the vibrant first season.

Special mention is warranted here for longtime San Diegan and soccer nut Andrew Vassiliadis and his San Diego Loyal staff and players who in effect got the MLS soccer ball rolling here.

Out of sensitivity to the reductionist capacities of political campaigns, I’ll merely whisper praise for the local voters who, in choosing between the Soccer City and SDSU West land-use measures for the Mission Valley site, decided that either option would result in an MLS team coming here. Fear-infused sales tactics didn’t prevail.

Kick this factoid around, football, futbol and soccer fans: If you’re inclined to rip San Diego State officials for overly pricing Aztecs football games — as they indeed have — since the program’s move into Snapdragon Stadium, remember that SDFC tickets aren’t cheap, either. Nor is the parking. And the MLS team played more home games than the Aztecs do.

Yet, the crowds remained fairly robust.

The average announced turnout of 29,976 over the 17 regular-season matches placed San Diego FC fourth of 30 MLS clubs. The top three – Atlanta, Charlotte and Seattle – all play in NFL venues.

If this first MLS season here was a long time coming, a word of caution is also due: Keeping the soccer ball rolling may prove dicey. Honeymoons fade. MLS attendance as a whole has softened. And although the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada, will move soccer into the forefront of U.S. media coverage, no one will soon equate the MLS to the world’s top leagues.

Before a local soccer standout takes us toward Sunday’s match, let’s just keep it here: The San Diego MLS experience, dating even to the scoreless home opener March 1 against timid St. Louis, has been a good time.

“The roots of this sport in this city are really deep,” said San Diego FC midfielder Luca de la Torre, 27, who played for local youth teams before heading to England, followed by the Netherlands and Spain. “And, to go so long for the city to not have an MLS team and now to have one, for it to be successful and have the possibility of winning the MLS Cup, is really huge, and the city deserves it.”