Coming off a dominating 5-0 victory Saturday against Indy Eleven at Torero Stadium on Saturday, San Diego Loyal will now take on the reigning champion Orange County SC on June 29 at home.

“I think outside of the first 10 minutes, I think that was the best 80 minutes we’ve played as a team since I’ve been here in three years,” said San Diego Loyal head coach Landon Donovan. “If we want to be really at our best we have to be ruthless and our guys were really really good and I’m really proud of them.”

The final score was misleading in the fact that it could have and should have been even more than the five-goal difference at the end. Forward Kyle Vassell scored twice in the 42nd and 52nd minute but could have finished with a hat trick if he had converted on a penalty kick to end the first half. Teammate Thomas Amang opened the scoring in the 29th minute and Tumi Moshobane ended the blowout in the 85th minute with Moshobane forcing an own goal from Indy defender Mechack Jérôme in the 60th minute off a shot inside the box.

As for San Diego’s opponent on Wednesday, Orange County SC has had a subpar season despite winning its previous match 3-1 against Loudoun United. The USL Championship title holders currently sit in next to last place of the standings with 24 points after 16 matches only ahead of expansion club Monterrey Bay FC.

“The biggest thing now is to recover physically,” Donovan added. “There’s no reason why we can’t make the game look the same. We’re not going to win 5-0 every week I get that, but we know what that feels like, we just went through it and everyone felt that viscerally.”

San Diego currently sits in third place of the standings tied in points with Sacramento Republic and El Paso Locomotive at 28 with El Paso having played two more matches than Loyal and Sacramento having played one match than San Diego. The game against Orange County SC kicks off at 7 p.m. at Torero Stadium.

Foto cortesía: San Diego Leal