San Diego FC star Chucky Lozano says Saturday’s home opener will be ‘very thrilling for us
EL CAJON — Hirving “Chucky” Lozano has already experienced the exuberance of thousands of fans eager for Major League Soccer to finally come to San Diego.
That was on stage at the Rady Shell 8 1/2 months ago, when the Mexican star was officially introduced as San Diego FC’s first-ever designated player.
Just wait until he and the rest of SDFC step onto the pitch at Snapdragon Stadium for their inaugural home match Saturday night against St. Louis City SC — especially after the expansion club stunned the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy 2-0 in its debut on Sunday.
“I think it will be even more special than that event because of what we showed on the pitch and it being our first home game with our people, with our fans, so it will definitely be more exciting,” Lozano said through an interpreter on Thursday. “I think the game itself will be very thrilling for us mentally and also physically.”
SDFC is expecting the largest crowd ever at 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium, which opened in 2022 for San Diego State football and is also home to the San Diego Wave.
Right wing Anders Dreyer scored both goals in the memorable first match in club history. He’d like to make Saturday night memorable for the fans.
Asked about the expectations, he said: “I don’t want to put them too high, but hopefully it’s going to be nice. I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully it’s going to be a magical night and we want to make it a magical Saturday for the fans and for the city and for this place.”
SDFC’s players noticed the estimated 1,000 SDFC supporters who chanted and sang in the upper deck at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday.
“Playing at home, it will be a lovely experience like it was at the Galaxy, where our supporters were. We’ll keep the same workflow with the same objective we had last game,” Lozano said after the team’s training session on a steamy East County morning at the Sharp HealthCare Performance Center at Singing Hills.
