San Diego FC is getting ready for another first in an already historic inaugural MLS season — their first-ever road playoff match, coming up on Saturday in Portland.
On Sunday, SDFC also made franchise history, beating the Portland Timbers 2-1 in their playoff opener at Snapdragon Stadium. That made it two straight weeks beating the same team after SDFC ended the regular season with a 4-0 win in Portland. Now, they head back up to the Pacific Northwest looking to make it three in a row and punch their ticket to the next round of the playoffs.
"With it being in their house, with their home fans, it's going to be a lot of energy in the stadium. We're just going to have to take that and kind of feed off that energy and kind of make it our own game," goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos told ABC 10News after training on Thursday at the Sharp Healthcare Performance Center in El Cajon.
"Every game is different, and every game starts at 0-0, so what happened in the last game, you can't take anything into this game, so you have to be as ready as possible, and I know we're going to be ready for this game," midfielder Onni Valakari said.
Even though SDFC has outscored Portland 6-1 over the past two weeks, the Timbers had plenty of chances to tie up the game in the second half on Sunday in Mission Valley. Now, Portland is facing elimination, which makes them even more dangerous, according to coach Mikey Varas.
"In playoffs, everyone is kind of fighting, so there's always a sense of that little extra, that sense of desperation, because you know that playoffs doesn't care about potential — it's just whether you continue to play or not," Varas said.
With a win, SDFC moves on to the MLS conference semifinals in late November. A loss would mean a winner-take-all matchup next Sunday back at Snapdragon Stadium.
One potential factor this Saturday night is the weather — cold and rainy in Portland. You'd think that would put a team from San Diego at a disadvantage, but you'd be wrong.
"For us, that cool and wet field, we like playing in that," Varas said.
"When the ball moves fast, it's better for us, better for our style. We get more combinations, more people touching the ball, so that's why we enjoy the quick pitches," Valakari said.
A San Diego team that loves the rain — who knew?
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