ST. LOUIS, MO – MAY 10: Anibal Godoy (20) of San Diego FC and Luca De La Torre (14) of San Diego FC congratulate Anders Dreyer (10) of San Diego FC on his goal during the MLS regular season match where St. Louis CITY SC hosted San Diego FC on Saturday May 10,, 2025, at Energizer Park in St. Louis City, MO. (Photo by Rick Ulreich/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In a season full of firsts, San Diego FC will experience another one on Wednesday night. They play their first midweek match against the Colorado Rapids, part of a wicked grind for the expansion team.
On Saturday night, SDFC beat St. Louis 2-1 in Missouri. They got home at about 2 a.m. on Sunday. Usually that would be fine because they get a full six days to recover and prepare for their next match. This week, that is definitely not the case.
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WATCH HEREThat win started a stretch of three games in seven days, a gauntlet the expansion team is traversing for the first time. Obviously, the first priority is player health.
“Making sure that we have a really good pulse on the group from their natural recovery perspective,” SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said. “Everybody had the day off yesterday. Today, for the guys who had big minutes, was a very light session. The legs have to get going in 48 hours, so you need to do a little something in terms of keeping them activated, but definitely give them the space to recover.”
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SIGN UP This team hasn’t made a whole lot of changes to its starting lineup. Varas would like to keep that trend intact as long as his guys are all ready to go.
“We're going to play the starting lineup that we think is going to give us the best chance of winning this game," Varas said. "So if everybody can recover and be healthy who has been playing, they'll be playing."
One man who will never leave the starting XI unless he’s in a coma (and even that might be a stretch) is forward Anders Dreyer. He says they’d be practicing on Wednesday anyway, so why not have more fun and play for real?
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“I think it’s nice to play games a train a little bit less. It’s because of the games that we do what we do,” Dreyer said.
Even at practice, he’s like the Energizer Bunny, always moving around. Forget three matches in a week. Dreyer would play three matches every day if he could.
“Playing games is the most fun thing as a footballer, and that’s what I like. So, yeah, I feel good, I feel like I’m in good shape,” Dreyer said.
He leads the club in goals, and his latest tally was a masterpiece. On Saturday night, he corralled a loose ball and saw four defenders in front of him. So, he slipped a shot through a tiny window to the short side of the goalie, a shot most humans can’t even visualize — let alone pull off.
“It can't be understated how impressive that goal was,” Varas said. “Just a calmness. There's no space there. Nobody's expecting him to take that shot. Special vision, a special talent, and we're really happy he's on our team.”
Dreyer downplayed the goal, looking at it as merely one fun moment in a season full of them.
“I felt the keeper open a little bit up, and, and then I was like, 'Yeah, why not try and shoot?'" Dreyer said. “Sometimes, when you don’t think too much, then it goes in, and it did that on Saturday.”
How impressive has Dreyer been? A third of the way through the season, multiple projections have him projected to be an MLS All-Star, getting the nod at forward over Lionel Messi.
Kickoff for Wednesday night’s match against Colorado is 7:30 p.m. at Snapdragon Stadium. Then they have another quick turnaround with a 7:30 p.m. start in Mission Valley on Saturday night against Kansas City.
