San Diego FC's inaugural home match ends in a scoreless draw with St. Louis City
SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego FC played to a 0-0 draw with St. Louis City in the Major League Soccer expansion club's inaugural home match on Saturday night.
Despite 14 shots and 67.1% possession, San Diego was unable to break through St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki and his defense. St. Louis managed only two shots against CJ dos Santos and San Diego, but both were on goal.
The final score hardly dampened the excitement at sold-out Snapdragon Stadium, which was packed with 34,506 fans for the home debut of Major League Soccer's 30th franchise. San Diego began play last week with a 2-0 victory at the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy.
Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, the star winger signed by San Diego last year as its first designated player, came off in the 31st minute against St. Louis after apparently injuring his leg. The Mexican national team star often struggled with injuries while playing in the Netherlands and Italy.
San Diego was more aggressive throughout the match, but got credit for just one shot on goal. Marcus Ingvartsen had a promising header in the box in the 74th minute, but popped it over the crossbar.
The San Diego crowd was warned three times in the second half for doing the homophobic soccer chant that frequently occurs in the matches of the Mexico men's national team.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer