SDFC is through eight weeks of their first MLS season, and while some things remain unclear, one thing is proven: Mikey Varas is a good coach.

Sure, fans have every right to question moves made by the folks in charge—in this case, Varas—but debating whether he is a good coach seems slightly premature.

After all, he is not the one making the plays on the field. You know, the plays that led to being down to ten men while trailing Charlotte FC two goals to nil at half?

As always, let’s get into it!

The Elephant in the Room: Starting Lineup           

As mentioned in previous articles, you just never know what lineup Mikey Varas will start with. On one hand, maybe that is a good problem to have – it means that the team has multiple players who are more than capable of holding their own in various positions. This time, however, it proved to be costly.

Anibal Godoy and Luca de la Torre, who have been crucial to the midfield, were asked to sit while Alvarado got the start, and Valakari moved to his natural position, where Luca thrives. Godoy has been praised for bringing passion and energy to the squad when he’s on the pitch, and Luca remains one of the team’s best ball distributors. It is easy to see why fans were left scratching their heads.

Tomas Angel slotted into the center forward position. He has shown great form coming on as a sub in the previous few matches, so it was expected that he would see starting minutes to try and get San Diego on the scoresheet.

Perhaps, the most confusing move of all was in the back line. After giving up three goals in the previous game to Colorado, Mikey Varas made a decision he felt would slow Charlotte in their attack by shifting McDuo (McVey and McNair) to the left and inserting Andres Reyes on the inside of Loffelsend. The long-awaited debut for the Colombian went about as badly as anyone could have imagined. More on that later, but right now let’s look at what exactly went wrong.

Bad Defending Brings Severe Consequences

San Diego conceded six goals in their last two games—more than they had given up in the last six games, total. Clearly, something is wrong here. Mikey Varas takes pride in his team’s defense, as the Chrome and Azul only allowed five goals in six matches, which is a big reason San Diego was sitting near the top of the table until the recent two-game away stint. After a dismal defensive display in Colorado, lessons apparently were not learned.

In the 10^th minute, star midfielder Pep Biel seemingly muscled his way through the weak challenge by Tverskov and was somehow able to slot a pass into the box while McNair and Reyes both failed to get in front of the Spaniard. Abada got on the end of the through ball without anyone picking up his run through the middle of the box and was able to slot the ball through to open the scoring.

Science can’t possibly explain how Pep found Liel for that goal.

It’s just 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂 pic.twitter.com/oIvwgQffhm

— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) April 19, 2025

What can San Diego do better defensively to prevent this from happening? It is imperative that the team continues to view tape and practice picking up trailing runs as well as making tougher challenges. A defensive player can lose a challenge by lacking qualities of field awareness, speed, and toughness, as seen on the play that led to the first goal. It is an understandable mistake and surely can be improved. On the contrary, a difficult-to-forget error is a mental mistake that causes a team to go down an extra goal and an extra player.

A Disastrous Debut

In the 37^th minute, a mental mistake was made. This time, Reyes, already on a yellow card, was beaten over the top with a through-ball into Patrick Agyemang. Reyes was clearly a step behind and tried to do all he could to bring down the Charlotte striker. As both players fought for the ball, they got tangled up, each holding the other. Agyemang was able to stay on his feet until he was inside the penalty box, and Reyes slid into his feet, seemingly getting the ball first but bringing down Agyemang in the process.

Referee Filip Dujic quickly whistled for the penalty and brought out a straight red card, but had to check VAR to review Reyes’s challenge. After a brief check, he determined that the challenge did not warrant a straight red but deserved a yellow. Hence, the second yellow card resulted in the same outcome, and Reyes was sent off. Agyemang converted his PK as SDFC saw themselves down to ten men with a two-nil deficit going into halftime.

Surely, this was not the long-awaited debut Reyes had hoped for. The Colombian defender is strongly considered one of the top options on the San Diego backline and has been part of the starting eleven plan since inception. The decision to start him in an away game versus a strong team like Charlotte before giving him sub minutes to get acclimated to game speed remains questionable. The game proved that Reyes was a step behind on many plays, earning his first yellow just half an hour into the match and a second ten minutes later.

Right Place, Right Time

The second half substitutions brought more energy into the San Diego side, which struggled to get anything going in the first half. Godoy and de la Torre brought intensity and creativity to the midfield. Alex Mighten and Hamady Diop brought speed and urgency into the attacking third, while newcomer Milan Iloski got some much-needed minutes but once again failed to impress. Charlotte got on the score sheet one more time in the 57^th minute when Privett headed the free kick pass from Westwood into the back of the net, and that was all she wrote.

When asked what key factors led to the decision to switch up the starting eleven, he said, “It was intentional,” and that he has full confidence in the players who started the game. “One of our goals early in the season has been to make our squad as big as possible”, Varas said. An entire season in the MLS is long, and teams need to give bench players minutes because, ultimately, guys will go down with injuries or need rest. Perhaps, there is a time and a place for that. Playing away at Charlotte, which now sits atop the Eastern Conference standings and has one of the best home atmosphere advantages, proved to be the wrong time to deviate from what won San Diego games in the first place.

If you enjoyed reading this match preview, please check out my blog by clicking here, where I cover SDFC, and follow me on Instagram (@sdfcnation) and X (@SDFC_Nation). Thanks for your support!

Dmitry Anisimov

Dmitry Anisimov is a San Diego native who played soccer up to the college level when he represented the SDSU Men’s Club Soccer team. Growing up in San Diego, Dmitry is a fan of all the home teams but he specifically couldn’t wait until San Diego got an MLS team. Once that dream became reality, Dmitry married his love for writing and the game of soccer to portray a voice of the San Diego soccer community. There is a deep-rooted love of soccer culture in San Diego and Dmitry hopes to bring it to light through his pre and post-game coverage of all things San Diego FC.