San Diego FC Falls 1-0 against Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Good Park
MLS San Diego FC

San Diego FC Falls 1-0 against Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Good Park

Published on July 23, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
San Diego FC News Release


Commerce, Colo - San Diego FC (SDFC) returned to MLS action following the international summer break with a 1-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in a tightly contested Western Conference match.

The match, originally slated to kick off at 6:30 p.m. PT was delayed 30 minutes due to inclement weather before the teams entered halftime scoreless.

In the second half, SDFC had its best opportunity to take the lead in the 64th minute when Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Nico Hansen denied Onni Valakari's left-footed shot. The Rapids appeared to break the deadlock in the 68th minute, but the goal was ruled out for offside after defender Reggie Cannon was judged to be in an offside position when the cross was played into the penalty area.

Colorado's Loïc Williams scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time (90+6') with a right-footed shot from the center of the box into the bottom-left corner to secure a 1-0 victory. With the result, SDFC falls to 1-2-0 all-time against the Rapids and remains winless at Dick's Sporting Goods Park (0-2-0).

Up next, SDFC returns to host FC Dallas at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday, July 25. Kickoff for Saturday's match is set for 6:30 p.m. PT, with live coverage available on Apple TV and FS1, along with an English radio broadcast on San Diego Sports 760 AM.

Tickets for Saturday's match are available at SanDiegoFC.com/Tickets. The first 25,000 fans in attendance will receive a commemorative SDFC bucket hat, courtesy of Alaska Airlines.

Goal Scoring Plays:

SD - 1-0 - David Vazquez (Onni Valakari, Marcus Ingvartsen) 8th minute: Vazquez opened the scoring when he got a left-foot on a Valakari cross inside the six-yard box. An Austin FC defender tried clearing the ball near the goal line but Vazquez' touch rolled past the goal line to finish off a give-and-go play between Ingvartsen and Valakari.

COL - 1-0 - Loic Williams (Paxton Aaronson, Dante Sealy) 90+6: Williams finished Aaronson's cross with a right-footed volley, beating the outstretched CJ Dos Santos with a shot inside the left post.

Postgame Notes:

With tonight's loss against Colorado Rapids, SDFC is winless in its last three MLS matches.

SDFC now has a 4-7-5 record in the 2026 MLS Regular Season with 17 points.

SDFC is 20-14-8 all-time against Western Conference teams in MLS Regular Season play.

SDFC is 1-4-2 on the road this season.

Tonight's match marked the 50th MLS Regular Season match for SDFC and now holds a 23-16-11 all-time MLS Regular Season record

SDFC is 1-4 in one goal matches this season.

SDFC is now 6-9-5 across all competitions in 2026 (MLS Regular Season 4-7-5, Concacaf Champions Cup 2-2).

SDFC is now 1-2 all-time against Colorado Rapids.

Winger Anders Dreyer made his 60th start for SDFC across all competitions and made his 50th MLS Regular Season appearance.

Newcomer Ian Murphy made his SDFC debut when he came on as a substitute for Kieran Sargeant in the 70th minute, making his 98th MLS Regular Season career appearance. He was signed during the summer international break.

Defender Willy appeared in the 20-man roster for the third time this season.

Forward Alex Mighten made his fourth start of the season tonight.

Forward Amahl Pellegrino missed the match with a lower body injury.

Defender Kieran Sargeant made his seventh start for SDFC, and his ninth appearance this season.

Onni Valakari and Dreyer are the only players to play in all 50 of SDFC's regular season and five post-season matches for a total of 55 MLS career appearances each.

Midfielder Alejandro Alvarado Jr. made his seventh appearance for SDFC this season, coming on as a substitute for Aníbal Godoy in the 70th minute.

Goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos made his second-straight start. He started in SDFC's last match on May 23 before the international break, seeing action for the first time since suffering an injury against LAFC on May 2.

Match Information

2026 MLS Regular Season

San Diego FC vs. Colorado Rapids

Wednesday - Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Commerce, Colo.)

Scoring Summary:

COL -1-0- Loic Williams (Assisted by Paxton Aaronson and Dante Sealy)

Misconduct Summary:

SD- Chris McVey (caution,19')

COL - Loic Williams (caution, 22')

COL - Reggie Cannon (caution, 28')

COL - Rafael Navarro (caution, 82')

SD - Lewis Morgan (caution, 90+5)

Lineups:

SAN DIEGO FC: GK CJ Dos Santos; D Oscar Verhoeven, D Manu Duah, D Christopher McVey, D Kieran Sargeant (Ian Murphy, 70'); M Aníbal Godoy (Alejandro Alvarado Jr, 70'), M Onni Valakari, M Jeppe Tverskov -C-, F Alex Mighten (Bryan Zamble, 90+2), F Marcus Ingvartsen (Lewis Morgan, 83'), F Anders Dreyer

Substitutes Not Used: GK Duran Ferree; D Ian Pilcher, D Willy Kumado, M Pedro Soma, F David Vazquez

TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 7; OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 1

COLORADO RAPIDS: GK Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen, D Reggie Cannon (Lucas Herrington, 90'), D Loic Williams, D Rob Holding (Noah Cobb, 90'), D Kosi Thompson, M Hamzat Ojediran, M Paxten Aaronson, M Josh Atencio (Donovan Phillip, 90+3), F Georgi Minoungou (Darren Yapi, 72'), F Dante Sealy, F Rafael Navarro -C-

Substitutes Not Used: GK Adam Beaudry, D Keegan Rosenberry, M Ali Fadal, F Alex Harris, M Bryce Jamison

TOTAL SHOTS: 9; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 17; OFFSIDES 4; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 2

Referee: Chris Penso

Assistant Referees: Jeremy Hanson, Matt Trotter

Fourth Official: Ricardo Fierro

VAR: Shawn Tehini

AVAR: Robert Schaap

Weather: 71-degrees, cloudy

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS

On tonight's match:

"I think we played against a very good team. We knew it was going to be difficult. We play in altitude, and I think our boys put together a really mature and structured game. Really smart when we could press really high, creating some situations that were advantageous for us, but also knowing that you were going to get broken at times, and then having a nice mature mid-block where we can control the space and maybe create some counter-attacking situations, which maybe we would have wanted to be a little bit more aggressive there. But overall, I think it was really good. And then I think we did well dealing with their high press. The first half we had difficulty turning those breakthroughs into clear chances. Second half we start to create some very clear chances, and then ultimately the game comes down to the end of the game. We have to be more organized on a set piece when there's a minute or 30 seconds left, especially when there's subs coming in. So, we have to do better on that."

On what the squad can take moving forward:

"I think we played a really structured game, like I said, and we didn't appear to be a very open team against a very dynamic Colorado squad who's very good on the ball, and so we were able to, yeah, play with structure, play within our profiles, play within our style of play. So, I thought that was really good, and ultimately, I think we're in a good place to now take the next steps. We got a game in three days, so we have to get our legs and minds and our body right and then turn this around really quick."

On officiating:

"And I just don't understand what the referee is thinking in the in the non-penalty call beginning of the season, they clearly told us if somebody's holding or tackling somebody in the box and not making eye contact with the ball, meaning just playing the player, then they would call these penalty kicks. And I took them for we take them for their word that they're going to do that. We let the referee know that Colorado fouls pretty much on all set pieces. They're meant to be very aggressive. It's their style of play, and that we ask. He got defensive and told us that he did his own research. Then, of course, we have the play where everybody can see that Jeppe (Tverskov) is tackled to the ground and Jeppe (Tverskov) is the target on this play. The VAR calls him to the monitor, and at the end of the day, I can give a lot of sympathy for referees because it's hard to make calls at the speed of the action that the team plays in. But when you get to go to the monitor and you have your VAR teams telling you it's a penalty kick, and you still find a way to convince yourself that it's not, then I think it's just unacceptable. But it is what it is, and we have to eat it because now it's talking about it much more isn't going to help us."

Check out the San Diego FC Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major League Soccer Stories from July 23, 2026


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central