Hello fellow San Diego Football fans,

Seems only right I introduce myself, being that this is our first San Diego FC blog on the website. My name is Chase Izidoro, and I am a massive Football fan, I always have been.

Born and raised in San Diego to a Portuguese family on both sides, I was always watching football matches, mainly when visiting my grandparents house. We didn’t have a club that we actually rooted for, we mainly based our fandom around the Portuguese National Team, and therefore our club football affiliation was centered around rooting for the Portuguese players.

Most of our time was spent watching Real Madrid with Luis Figo, before turning to the Premier League to watch Ronaldo and Nani on Manchester United. Of course it wouldn’t be a Portuguese household without throwing on some Benfica with my dad’s side of the family, and Porto on my mom’s side. Ultimately, with the rise of Cristiano Ronaldo, we returned back to being Real Madrid fans, though for me, it didn’t feel right. I don’t know if it’s the San Diego fan in me, but winning trophies and dominating all of La Liga outside of Barcelona every season just seemed so boring to me.

As masochistic as it sounds, I needed my football club to put me through more pain and suffering than what Real Madrid had to offer. Ultimately, that wasn’t the reason I became an Arsenal fan, but I sure have had my fill of pain since becoming a fan back in 2014.

Still though, becoming an Arsenal supporter was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made, I’m Arsenal till I die. You can find me at Bluefoot Bar in North Park every now and then, catching a match with the rest of the San Diego Gooners.

As for my football coverage in town, it really began in 2021 after being hired to the sports department at KUSI News. Nobody there really cared for the beautiful game, so I took over the reigns when it came to our football coverage, making sure I covered as much in town as I could.

I attended countless San Diego Wave and San Diego Loyal matches, even getting a chance to interview Landon Donovan in a sit-down interview. Great guy by the way, I’m still a firm believer that whatever San Diego becomes on the football landscape, he should be one of the driving forces/faces behind it, as he already has been for many years.

I digress…you all came here to read about the Chrome and Azul.

With good reason too, who honestly saw San Diego FC starting off this hot? I will gladly raise my hand up and admit that I did not think they would hit the ground running the way they have.

I was there for the opening match against LA Galaxy, covering the match and the San Diego FC fan tailgate parties for KUSI & FOX 5, and how beautiful of a day it was.

For the Galaxy to throw their own party to celebrate winning the MLS Cup, and our players were having none of it. Dominating the defending champs in possession for the majority of the match, and ultimately leading to a brace for Anders Dreyer for the first two goals in club history.

The away fans who made the journey out there got their money’s worth, and that’s the best part. Especially when that moment comes with the dismay of the LA fans losing to San Diego.

Though they had yet to even grace the field in Mission Valley for the first time, San Diego FC had already taken America’s Finest City by storm.

Most of us who have been around the San Diego football scene knew something like the crowd we saw on opening night was possible, especially because the Wave brought out a similar crowd to their matches before. But that atmosphere that night was electric, every chant…well almost every chant… was so vibrant and made for an incredible night for San Diego.

Even though the match ended in a 0-0 draw with St. Louis City SC, the takeaways from what happened on the pitch were still impressive. 72% possession, 700 passes, and 15 shots for an expansion team that lost it’s star player in Hirving “Chucky” Lozano early in the match with a leg injury.

While still being undefeated and coming off back-to-back clean sheets, San Diego FC was oddly in need of a good result at the high altitude climate of Real Salt Lake. Which for the first 40 minutes of the match, did not look possible; but an equalizing goal from Franco Negri (43′) right before recess, followed by two stoppage time goals from Anders Dreyer (90+1′) and Marcus Ingvartsen (90+6′) gave San Diego the 3-1 win, to remain undefeated.

Now in 2nd place in the MLS Western Conference(2-1-0, 7 points), the Chrome and Azul welcome to town an MLS side with a record that mirrors their own in the Columbus Crew (2-1-0, 7 points.)

The Crew are lead by Uruguayan forward Diego Rossi and Canadian forward Jacen Russell-Rowe; who both have scored 3 goals each across all competitions since the start of the MLS season.

Also since the start of the MLS season, The Black and Gold have won the possession battle in every single match they have played, even in their 3-0 defeat in the CONCACAF Champions Cup to LAFC.

So Saturday’s match will feature two ball dominant teams, who have given up a combined 3 goals in their first 3 MLS matches of the season. As the saying goes, “something’s gotta give.”

The unfortunate aspect of this match is that San Diego FC is likely to be without Lozano again, after he missed last week’s match against RSL due to his injury.

Obviously you want your star player to be heavily involved in your attack, but it’s clear that the main link-up play works down the left side of the pitch, through Negri, Lozano, and San Diego resident Luca De La Torre. Head Coach Mikey Varas seems to have given LDLT the responsibility of being the free roaming midfielder, working as the link between the double pivots in Tveskov and Godoy (who have been exceptional so far this season by the way) and the forwards who are constantly looking to make runs in behind the opposing back line.

This team looked imposing with Lozano as the spearhead of the buildup down the left side, and that spark hasn’t exactly diminished in his absence, but it’s certainly not as threatening without Lozano in there.

I think all of us as fans really won’t care who builds up the play, just as long as Dreyer continues to rack up his goal tally against Columbus on Saturday night.

But for now we shall wait and see. I will be starting up a podcast around San Diego Football, so stay tuned for that to drop on all platforms.

I hope you all join along in my posts, feel free to comment, DM, or email me with questions and thoughts and I’ll address them as they come in.

Cheers, and Forca Azul

– Chase