LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo’s soccer journey will come full circle on Saturday, when his Los Angeles FC club treks south for its first-ever match against San Diego FC.
The inaugural meeting between the Southern California counterparts marks a homecoming forCherundolo, a San Diego native who graduated from Mt. Carmel High School before going on to a lengthy pro and international career. As a kid, he trekked from his family’s Rancho Peñasquitos home to La Jolla to train with the Nomads club team.
“Countless hours spent at the training fields in La Jolla were very memorable, waiting for yourturn while the older players finished (practice),” Cherundolo said. “We’d go down to the beach atLa Jolla Cove.”
Cherundolo will trade the sands of the beach for the Snapdragon Stadium turf on Saturday. Expansion side SDFC (2-1-2) will try to spoil the coach’s homecoming and score the franchise’s first-ever home win.
SDFC tied both St. Louis City SC on March 1 (0-0) and Columbus Crew on March 15 (1-1). The club is coming off its first regular-season loss, a 2-1 setback to host Austin FC on Sunday. SDFC gave up both goals in the first 19 minutes. Austin’s second score came after a defensive lapse by the visitors.
The lesson?
“You have to stay alert every moment of the game, and that’s No. 1,” said SDFC coach MikeyVaras. “The second goal, we all know, is a goal you don’t expect to happen at a first-team level, but we learned from it.”
San Diego FC’s Hamady Diop goes up for a header during Sunday’s loss to Austin FC. (Ben Nichols, San Diego FC)
Varas started a young lineup at Austin, including 18-year-old Luca Bombino and 22-year-oldsIan Pilcher and Willy Kumado.
“It can’t be understated that we’ve been together for 10 weeks,” Varas said. “These are alllearning moments we take in stride.”
SDFC will get a veteran boost for LAFC’s visit. Varas confirmed that forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano will be available to come off the bench.
Lozano last appeared in the March 1 home opener, when he sustained a leg injury.
“I’m not sure it changes the way they play,” Cherundolo said of Lozano’s return to the lineup. “It’s just another quality player you have to watch out for.”
LAFC (3-2-0) heads south having topped Sporting KC 2-0 in its last match. David Martinez scored his second goal of the season, while two-time MLS All-Star Aaron Long notched his first goal of the campaign.
The six days between matches is the longest stretch LAFC has had away from competitionsince the regular season began last month. The team is also participating in the Concacaf Champions Cup, which runs concurrent with the MLS schedule.
Cherundolo said the club has not yet encountered “a problem… managing the load” of playingmultiple matches a week.
“Every one of us has a lot of San Diego ties, because it’s a nice place to be,” said LAFCdefender Sergi Palencia. “Whenever we have two days off, we always have players who godown there.”
LAFC defender Sergi Palencia, right, kicks the ball past Columbus Crew forward DeJuan Jones during the second half of the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 series on Tuesday night at BMO Stadium. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Appreciation for San Diego aside, Palencia said he anticipates Saturday’s match marking thebeginning of a true rivalry in MLS — and not just due to the proximity of the organizations.
“We are going to create a rivalry for sure, but a rivalry’s not created because you’re two hoursaway,” said Palencia, adding: “We expect a very close game, a very hard-fought game” thatplants the seeds for rivalry.
LAFC has been a recent standard-bearer in MLS, winning the MLS Cup Playoffs in 2022 andfinishing as runner-up in 2023. The club finished atop the Western Conference in both 2022 and2024.
“If you have that mentality that it’s like, now we’re going to add something and we’re going to doextra preparation (because of an opponent’s recent success), it means you’ve completelydropped the ball in every other week of preparation,” Varas said. “So at the end of the day, thisis another day, another week of competition.”
Cherundolo shares the sentiment.
“We have a job to do,” he said. “(There are) three points on the line in MLS Cup competition.”
LAFC (3-2-0) at San Diego FC (2-1-2)
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Streaming: Apple TV
Radio: 760-AM (English), 1700-AM (Spanish)
Originally Published: March 28, 2025 at 12:32 PM PDT
