San Diego FC's winless streak grows to six matches after falling 4-1 against the New York Red Bulls at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Saturday night.
Coming into the match sitting outside a Western Conference playoff position, the urgency grew for SDFC needing to gain ground and points in their remaining seven league matches.
SDFC's winless streak grew to five straight games following their last time out on Sept. 26 against Austin FC, with the Chrome & Azul's three-goal advantage being erased in the last 20 minutes of the match to end in a gut-wrenching 3-3 draw at Q2 Stadium.
As for this match, Saturday night marked the first-ever meeting between these two sides, with SDFC traveling to Harrison, New Jersey for their first contest.
Despite a positive start to the match for the visiting SDFC, two goals in the opening 20-minutes by RBNY's Julian Hall and Devin Padelford gave the Chrome & Azul an early multiple-goal deficit.
RBNY tacked on another in the 27-minute, with Jorge Ruvalcaba giving his squad a three-goal lead into the halftime break.
SDFC's second-half substitute Cédric Bakambu was able to pull a goal back in the 60-minute, finishing off an Anders Dreyer cross with a first-time tapping finish right outside the goal area to make the match 3-1.
It was another substitute score for forward Bakambu, with both of his SDFC goals coming off the bench as Dreyer's delivered cross recorded his 13th assist of the 2026 MLS season.
RBNY were able to add their fourth goal in stoppage time, with forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting rolling in a low driven shot into the left side of the net in the 90+3-minute as the final whistle blew at that 4-1 scoreline for the New York Red Bulls victory.
SDFC's playoff hopes took another hit after their Saturday night loss to RBNY, with the club's winless streak growing to six matches.
Even with the team conceding four goals on the night, SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos had the standout performance for the Chrome & Azul, ending the match with eight saves against 27 total shots from RBNY.
SDFC are back at Snapdragon Stadium for their midweek MLS matchday against the visiting Houston Dynamo FC, with the Western Conference showdown kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 14.
It's the second meeting between the two sides, with SDFC's visit to Shell Energy Stadium back on April 22 ending in a 1-0 defeat to the Dynamo.
