SDFC Beats Colorado, Achouri Scores 100th Club Goal

As the sun set over the San Diego skyline, fans filled into Snapdragon Stadium to watch San Diego FC take on the Colorado Rapids in what was set to be a beautiful night for local soccer.

Adres Dreyer returned from serving a red card suspension for yellow card accumulation during the LAFC match. Also, the moment San Diego fans were looking forward to - SDFC's newest Designated Player signing, Elias Achouri made the starting XI.

SDFC were playing their third match in just seven days, prompting head coach Mikey Varas to rotate the squad for Wednesday’s road match against Portland. The decision allowed the regular starters to get some much-needed rest and enter Saturday’s match with fresh legs.

Gabriel Pirani made a consecutive start in the left midfield and Onni Valakari returned to a familiar false-nine striker position.

On defense, Ian Murphy accompanied Manu Duah in the center while Luca Bombino and Oscar Verhoeven returned to their regular starting wingback positions.

Colorado came into the match with three straight shutout victories, one of them also against LAFC. Rafael Navarro has been on fire for the Rapids this season, leading the team with 10 goals scored.

First Half

San Diego FC found it difficult to break down the tough Colorado defense in the first quarter-hour of the match. The Rapids pressed SDFC high and low, not giving the home squad much time before deciding what to do with the ball. The game turned a bit chippy as both teams accumulated a total of six fouls in the first 25 minutes.

Despite the tough defense, it was the home side that found the back of the net first. Colorado's center back, Rob Holding mistouched a pass inside his own box and Valakari was there to pounce on the loose ball before sliding it past the Colorado keeper, Nicolas Defreitas-Hansen.

It was the first goal Colorado gave up in over 270 minutes of play.

San Diego's luck continued only 10 minutes later as the Colorado defense once again miscommunicated in their own penalty box. The ball bounced between two Rapids defenders and into the feet of Elias Achouri, who calmly slotted it home.

It was a special debut goal for Achouri as it marked the club's 100th goal.

Second Half

A hard fought second half saw both teams battling for possession. The Rapids continued their press but to no avail. SDFC's gameplan seemingly remained the same - control possession and create isolated chances from Colorado's press.

The plan worked.

In the 71st minute, Gabriel Pirani dribbled up the center of the final third before sending Marcus Ingvartsen through on the right. Ingvartsen returned the favor and slid the pass back into Pirani's feet, who calmly finished into the back of the net.

Ingvartsen who subbed on at the 67th minute, had to leave the game due to an injury in the 86th minute. He was replaced by Lewis Morgan.

Overall, it was the perfect scenario for Varas' team. A strong, bounce-back home victory against a team who only gave up one goal in their last five matches.

"I think it's just a great team win and it starts from foundation of everybody committed to running hard, to tackling, to pressing, to making big recovery runs because you play against a very good team," said Varas. "To defending low like warriors and all of that is the foundation and when we do that, with all the guys committed to it and we do it at a high level football becomes familiar because that is a very good Colorado team that we just played against."

With tonight’s victory, San Diego FC climbed to 11th place in the Western Conference and now sit just one point outside the playoff line.