San Diego FC kicked off their inaugural home match against St. Louis City SC hours before game time.

Fans arrived early to tailgate, with grills sizzling, Spanish music blasting and children running around the parking lot. It felt like a Hispanic cookout, with families gathered together as if they were in their own backyards.

Across the street from the parking lot, fans took part in the fan fest, with live music from a banda, food trucks and interactive activities.

As the stadium gates opened, fans started filling the seats. San Diego FC support group, La Frontera, played their drums and sang chants. The support section was filled with fans with lucha libre masks and scarves, waving various flags and singing the national anthem.

The stadium was filled with 34,506 fans, and the match ended in a scoreless tie. What started as a celebratory day, however, ended in disappointment.

The city of San Diego made history after years of not having a soccer team. The mood changed in the final minutes when a homophobic chant erupted inside Snapdragon Stadium. Not only that, but Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, one of the most anticipated players, suffered an injury in the first half.

Head coach Mikey Varas spoke about the crowd and how the result affected his team.

“I think the stadium was electric, boys were electric, considering we’ve been together for six weeks and we’re very disappointed with the tie,” he said. “I think we’re showing everybody that we’re serious when we talk about how we want to play and what type of culture we want to display. And I think that we’re serious when we show that we’re a reflection of the community.
San Diego is a diverse place, it’s a creative place, it’s a competitive place.”

From the start, SDFC was attacking the offensive side, creating opportunities to score but failed to convert.

San Diego controlled possession for the majority of the match, finishing with 67%, while St. Louis held 33%.

“The fact that we are disappointed in the locker room, it almost feels like a loss but obviously we didn’t allow them into our box often and we got in there’s quite a bit,” general manager Tyler Heaps said. “Just about now finding those details and making sure we can turn those into scoring opportunities.”

Lozano left the field in the 31st minute and walked off with the training staff.

“I could say it’s a lower body, it’s something, obviously we would like to do more scans on and that will obviously happen tomorrow,” Heaps said. “But what I can say is that he’s in a positive mood now and we hope to obviously get him back as quickly as possible.”

Winger Emmanuel Boateng entered the game as a substitute for Lozano.

“He’s (Lozano) a big player for our team, so losing him that early in the game wasn’t good,” Boateng said. “I’ve been preparing, trying to learn our style of play all preseason, just like everybody. So I felt ready to come in.”

SDFC had 16 shots, while St. Louis had two shots. SDFC only had one shot on goal while St. Louis had both shots on goal but were stopped by goalkeeper CJ dos Santos.

That one shot on goal was by winger Aníbal Godoy when he kicked the ball with his left foot off a corner kick at the 40th minute. St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki made the save.

Multiple yellow cards were thrown out with five given to St. Louis and three to SDFC.

Toward the end of the game, a group of people in the crowd chanted a discriminatory word in Spanish, a term that is common within the Hispanic community in soccer matches. Fans were given three warnings regarding the homophobic slur, both from the stadium announcer and on the digital screens.

“Discrimination has no place in our sport and in our stadiums and will not be tolerated. The fan chant that was just used is offensive and we ask that fans do not continue to use this chant. Thank you,” the announcer said.

The announcer warned if the chant continued, the match would be suspended.

Varas opened with a statement about the incident, first addressing it in Spanish and then talking about it in English.

“The chant that was heard tonight is unacceptable,” Varas said. “It’s outside of our values system. It doesn’t represent the players, myself, the club, and it certainly doesn’t represent San Diego or Baja California. It’s not a reflection of who we are.”

Varas was quick to defend La Frontera, stating they had nothing to do with the chant.

“I want to make sure that everybody knows that was not from our main supporter group, La Frontera,” Varas said. “They match the same values as us, they believe the same as us, they’re our teammates. This came from more the general population in the seats, and it wasn’t everybody, and I understand that, but it was loud enough.”

Even with a few challenges, the energy in the stadium was shown from the start. SDFC earned a clean sheet, earning them one point in the standings.

SDFC will travel to face Real Salt Lake next Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The match will be available to watch on Apple TV+ with an MLS Season Pass.

“We have a good group, resilient group, guys that are brave, want to be on the ball,” Boateng said. “And I think that’s, you know, for a player, that’s what you expect when you get on the field and all your teammates want the ball and you feel like you’re in control of the game that’s the best thing and so it’s feeling good right now. We still have some things to clean up, but I have no doubt we can build on it and keep putting together always going forward.”