Have no doubt: Manny Machado is noticing San Diego FC’s first season, nearly two years after the Padres star was announced as a minority investor in the Major League Soccer club.
Machado quickly its he’s no soccer expert. But don’t discount Machado helping SDFC someday as a sounding board.
He’s a resilient longtime professional athlete, one who has handled intense scrutiny and being a focal point of many opponents. Being fluent in Spanish will help him connect with players and staff, as will his fandom.
Machado has draped an SDFC scarf high across his Padres dressing stall. A recent chat confirmed he finds ways to watch the games.
How’s this for paying attention to SDFC: “I want to see (Andres) Reyes come back – he’s good,” Machado said last week after helping the Padres improve their MLB-best record.
He brought up Reyes, a sidelined defender, before the Padres left for Houston and SDFC headed to Charlotte.
Reyes wasn’t the only defender mentioned by the winner of MLB’s American League 2013 Platinum Glove and two Gold Gloves. Machado singled out No. 97 on SDFC’S back line. “He’s nasty,” he said of Christopher McVey, a rugged Swede.
Further praising less-glamorous players, he added: “Our defensive backs, the goalie — they’ve all been playing really well. They’ve been doing their thing.”
When asked about star forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, Machado broke out the first-person plural, sounding more like a minority owner of the club.
“Obviously we know the talent that he has,” he said of the Mexican left wing, who was sidelined most of March by a leg injury. “There’s a reason why we brought him here. Once he gets going, he’s going to be lights out.
“Luca (de la Torre) in the middle with Chucky and (Anders) Dreyer on the right side — it’s a good combination, a nice little triangle,” he said of the team’s attacking nucleus.
Not one to let Padres opponents see him sweat, Machado conceded he can get antsy during SDFC’s matches.
He’s not watching ’69 Padres redux, though. The expansion club is 4-3-2 through nine matches.
“The team looks like they’ve been playing together for years, with the chemistry,” he said. “You don’t see that from an expansion team so early this year. Hopefully, they can continue growing on it … soccer is about growing as a team.”
San Diego FC’s home match this Saturday against Real Salt Lake will be extra revealing because for the first time, coach Mikey Varas’ squad will be coming off a non-competitive showing – the 3-0 loss at Charlotte against a sharp squad that improved to 5-0 on its artificial-turf field.
Reyes started at central defender in his first game, either in the preseason or the season. The Colombian looked rusty and drew two yellow cards, leaving SDFC a player short for the final 48 minutes. Though Reyes has five seasons of MLS experience and played a big role in the New York Red Bulls reaching the 2024 MLS Cup, the 25-year-old’s choppy performance Saturday raised the question of whether he should’ve debuted in a less-challenging role.
Questions can also be asked about midfielders de la Torre and Anibal Godoy being out of the starting lineup — a first for de La Torre and a second for Godoy. Both players entered late in the first half.
Varas acknowledged the team’s bad showing Saturday could open him to criticism for the lineup changes.
“Starting with the same lineup every weekend doesn’t guarantee you success,” he said. “We did this intentionally to make our squad bigger, because we trust these guys, and we believe that this will pay off for us in the long run.”
Reminder: soccer isn’t solitaire. The performance by Charlotte FC, well-organized and opportunistic, was the best of the nine against SDFC.
With the return of Reyes, who was obtained for $600,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM), $200,000 in 2026 GAM and a future sell-on percentage, SDFC is very close to full strength.
The schedule may soon become favorable, and starting with Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. match, four of the next five games will come in Mission Valley.
Count on this: Machado, who dabbled at striker in his youth, will be among the interested observers.
