San Diego FC returns home Wednesday night with a simple problem and no easy fix: it has not won in nine Major League Soccer matches and has not taken an MLS victory since March 7. Austin FC comes in at 3-4-5, while San Diego sits at 3-5-4, and both clubs are chasing a result that would steady a choppy stretch of the season.
For San Diego, the wait has already stretched through a franchise-worst MLS showing at San Jose on April 4 and then two more matches in which it looked capable of breaking through, only to surrender late equalizers. The club tied LAFC 2-2 after conceding in the 82nd minute and again in stoppage time, and then dropped points against Seattle after leading 1-0 and absorbing late pressure.
That pattern is what makes Wednesday’s match more than another date on the schedule. San Diego has improved since the low point at San Jose, and there have been signs of progress from Marcus Ingvartsen, who has scored four goals in his past five games, and from Manu Duah, who has settled in after two red cards and early-season growing pains. Anibal Godoy has also filled in for Jeppe Tverskov in the past two games, giving Mikey Varas a different look in midfield.
Varas said after the Seattle match that his team had “renounced the ball a little bit at the end … and we got pushed back,” a blunt summary of how fragile a late lead has become for San Diego. That is the tension facing the home side now: the performances have improved, but the closing minutes have kept turning into the place where points disappear.
Austin arrives with its own fatigue. The club beat Houston and St. Louis at home by two goals each, then tied Minnesota United on Sunday. Minnesota had beaten San Diego 2-1 in April, and Austin coach Nico Estevez said Monday that his team’s workload had been punishing. “If you look at our schedule, it has been insane,” he said. Austin played Sunday night in Minnesota, flew home to Texas on Monday and was scheduled to fly to San Diego on Tuesday.
That compressed travel could matter, but San Diego cannot count on it to solve anything. Austin has shown enough at home and on the road to suggest it can make Wednesday uncomfortable, while San Diego has shown enough lately to believe the breakthrough is close. The question is whether close is good enough for a team that has gone more than two months without a league win.
