Soccer <\/p>\n
What happened to San Diego FC<\/a>?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s a loaded question. But the fact that many readers already have a reasonably clear idea of \u2018San Diego FC\u2019 as a meaningful concept just 15 months into the club\u2019s on-field existence is a compliment to the Chrome-and-Azul\u2019s quick work in crafting an identity, and validating it with not just the best-ever MLS expansion season, but in the slick aesthetics of a daring, ball-dominant style.<\/p>\n By finishing first in the Western Conference during their inaugural campaign with 63 points, reaching the Western Conference Final in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs, and starting the current campaign with jaw-droppingly impressive Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a> performances vs. Mexican giants Pumas UNAM and Deportivo Toluca, San Diego set a ludicrously high bar for themselves out of the gates.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, San Diego have dipped well short of it for over a month now, lurching into the first soul-searching stretch of their brief history ahead of their Walmart Saturday Showdown visit from SoCal rivals LAFC<\/a> (9:30 pm ET |\u00a0Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cPrivilege problems, for sure,\u201d said head coach Mikey Varas, taking an optimist\u2019s approach in a conversation with MLSsoccer.com on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cOn a professional level, this has been one of the more beautiful challenges that I\u2019ve faced. But when people say challenges, I think that they take a lot of negative connotation to it, and I look at it as something that’s absolutely amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n