San Diego FC failed to turn territorial dominance into a victory in their first-ever home match and saw star signing Chucky Lozano exit with an early injury in a 0-0 draw with St. Louis City SC on Saturday night.
Lozano grabbed at his left hamstring and pulled up short while chasing a ball down the left flank. The 29-year-old Mexico international, who played previously at Napoli and PSV Eindhoven, immediately exited in the 31st minute and headed to the dressing room.
Lozano’s exit didn’t stop SDFC (1-0-1, 4 points) from hoarding the majority of possession time and outshooting St. Louis City 14-2. But only one of those shots forced goalkeeper Roman Burki into a save in a game in which his team also defended nine corners and earned none.
Henry Kessler starred in front of Burki on the back line, making several key blocks and clearances as SLC (0-0-2, 2 points) played to its second consecutive 0-0 draw to open the season.
Meanwhile, CJ dos Santos had two stops for San Diego, which has yet to concede a goal two matches into its MLS existence. And neither of those were particularly uncomfortable, as the match was mostly one-way traffic before a crowd of 34,506, the largest to attend an event at Snapdragon Stadium. The venue is shared with the NWSL’s San Diego Wave FC and San Diego State University.
Of San Diego’s half chances, one of the best came in the 26th minute when Lozano reached a ball down the left and cut back into the penalty area, but saw his shot blocked by Kyle Hiebert.
Then in the 40th minute, it was Anibal Godoy forcing Burki’s only save when he showed up at the back post to catch a corner kick out of the air and volley it directly at the goalkeeper, who did well not to give up a rebound.
In the 74th minute, Marcus Ingvartsen showed up in a promising spot for an open header but was late on his leap and sent the ball well over the crossbar.
–Field Level Media
