LAFC heads south to face San Diego FC on Saturday night in an MLS regular-season match that lands in the middle of its two-leg Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal series. LAFC beat Toluca 2-1 at BMO Stadium on Wednesday night and now turns quickly to a league game against the club that has become one of its hardest matchups.
LAFC is still chasing its first victory over San Diego FC after losing twice last year, when San Diego finished first in the Western Conference in its debut season. The contrast is sharper now. San Diego sits 11th through ten matchdays at 3W-5L-2D and is on an eight-game winless streak across all competitions, while LAFC is 6W-2L-2D and third in the West with 17 goals scored and six conceded.
That gap in the standings has not erased the history between the clubs, and it has not made the timing any easier for LAFC. The team is in the middle of 13 matches in 44 days, averaging one match every 3.38 days, with seven Concacaf games already on the schedule and two long trips to southern Mexico still ahead, along with flights to Oregon and Minnesota during the congested run.
Marc Dos Santos said he will rotate the squad against San Diego so players can get some rest before the second leg against Toluca. He said the physical demands of playing in Toluca are extreme, and he added that the group selected for San Diego will be full of energy and eager to prove themselves. Dos Santos also said LAFC must work with the strengths it has after changes to the team, and that a strong defensive base can still carry the club while the attack continues to build.
For San Diego, the meeting arrives during a rough stretch that has dragged a strong debut season into a much shakier start in 2026 MLS play. Last year, the club went 19W-9L-6D with a plus-23 goal differential, scoring 64 goals and allowing 41, but this season it has 17 goals for and 17 against through ten matchdays. Its home record is 2W-2L-1D, and injuries have been part of the reason the current form has slipped.
One local name could add a small edge to the night. Jude Terry, a 17-year-old midfielder from San Diego, may see action for LAFC. But the larger story is the same for both clubs: LAFC has to manage a packed calendar without losing ground in league play, and San Diego has to stop the slide before a strong start is overtaken by the wrong kind of momentum.