Having yet to give up a goal in its first two matches, San Diego FC travels to America First Field in Utah for a meeting with Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

SDFC will be without the services of forward Hirving Lozano, who suffered a hamstring injury in the 28th minute against St. Louis City SC in a scoreless draw at Snapdragon Stadium back on March 1. Lozano did not participate in Thursday’s training with his teammates but was training separately with a personal trainer and is now being listed as week-to-week.

“It’s a minor lower leg injury, so he’ll be back soon,” said SDFC head coach Mikey Varas.

The team has gotten outstanding play from the backline and goalkeeper CJ dos Santos, who has started the regular season with back-to-back clean sheets.

“Even when you sub a player in and sub a player out, the dynamic of the team will change,” Varas added. “Nothing changes with our overall style of play; we have conviction for that, but it will look a little bit different with a different front three.”

Real Salt Lake is coming off a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders after opening with a 4-0 defeat to San Jose. Real Salt Lake won the 2009 MLS Cup and finished as runners-up for the Supporters Shield in 2010 and 2013. It was also the runners-up in the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League, losing to Liga MX side Monterrey in the final. 

Real Salt Lake finished the 2024 season in third place in the Western Conference standings and was recently eliminated by C.S. Herediano from Costa Rica in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

San Diego FC will return home to take on three-time MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew on Saturday, March 15, at Snapdragon Stadium. “I’m mostly excited about the fact that the boys are playing with our style of play with tons of conviction and quality,” said Varas.