San Diego FC scored twice in second-half stoppage time to beat Real Salt Lake last month.
The 3-1 victory came in the expansion franchise’s third match. Now host San Diego FC will look to knock off Real Salt Lake again — and regain some of their early-season momentum — when the two squads meet on Saturday night.
Anders Dreyer scored the tiebreaking goal one minute into stoppage time and Marcus Ingvartsen added a tally five minutes later when the teams met March 8 in Sandy, Utah.
Dreyer has scored a team-leading three goals for San Diego FC (4-3-2, 14 points), who have dropped two straight matches after a strong start.
The offense was missing in action last weekend when San Diego fell 3-0 at Charlotte FC. The club placed just two shots on goal.
Earlier this week, San Diego acquired 18-year-old defender Oscar Verhoeven on loan from the San Jose Earthquakes for the rest of the season. San Diego has a purchase option for 2026.
“He is a high potential fullback and strong competitor that we believe will benefit from being in our environment as he continues to develop,” said San Diego sporting director Tyler Heaps.
Real Salt Lake (3-6-0, 9 points) also made a move by acquiring forward William Agada from Sporting Kansas City. Agada, 25, has 21 goals in 64 MLS matches over four seasons. He scored a career-high 10 last season, but has none this year in six matches.
But with RSL having just eight goals in nine matches, obtaining Agada is a worthwhile gamble.
“We are very excited to add another aggressive and versatile attacking option to our team, as Willy brings MLS experience to our striker group,” RSL chief soccer officer Kurt Schmid said. “He makes the right runs at the right times and consistently finds himself in good spots to take high-quality chances to score.”
RSL also received a good break when a red card given to leading scorer Diego Luna (three goals) during last weekend’s 1-0 home loss to Toronto FC was rescinded. That makes Luna eligible to play against San Diego.
“It definitely impacted the match,” Salt Lake coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “… Those calls haven’t been going our way. This is a time where we have to dig deep when it feels nothing is going our way.”
Salt Lake has dropped four of its past five games.
San Diego is beginning a stretch where five of six matches are at home, while RSL is starting a three-match road trip.
–Field Level Media
