The San Diego Loyal deserve your attention
All it took was a well-timed miracle to turn a casual soccer fan into a loving supporter of the local USL club.
I call myself a soccer fan, but what’s closer to the truth is that I am a casual fan. I know the stars of the sport but not really anyone beyond that. I have a team that I root for in the EPL, but couldn’t tell you much about their style of play or their roster construction.
Compared to how I root for other sports (like an obsessive), soccer is typically where I go to have fun and relax. When I went to the San Diego Loyal inaugural home opener back in March of 2020, that’s how I took it in. I sat in the crowd and drank beer and enjoyed myself without getting too invested. I even left the game before it ended because it was kind of boring and I was kind of tired.
What I have found is that is a fine way to root for a team that plays half a world away, but is a pretty silly way to root for a team that is literally playing a few feet in front of you. I discovered this last night, when I visited Torero Stadium for the first time since that 2020 home opener, and got sucked into the atmosphere of screaming fans and a team that played its heart out to pull off an unexpected win.
This isn’t to say that I haven’t been paying attention, at least a little bit, to the San Diego Loyal this season. I have ESPN+ and have had just about every game of theirs on, although it usually doesn’t get my full attention. I’ve been treating them the same way I treat the soccer team I root for that plays half a world away, while they tried to get my attention from just a few miles down the road.
Something to wake you up
I started Wednesday night in Section 109 with the Loyal supporters group, The Locals. I sang, I danced, and I did all the things a good supporter does. But part of being a supporter is not just giving your all to the team, but having the team give it back to you in kind. It’s a relationship, and one that I felt somewhat left out of compared to the people around me that had been better fans.
So, after the first half, I wandered around the stadium to see what it felt like to watch with the fans that weren’t jumping and dancing and having their ears pounded on by literal nearby drums. It was different, for sure, and I still wasn’t sure which side I wanted to be on.
Did I want to be half-invested, relaxing and taking in a soccer game? Or did I want to put myself out there and find myself riding the highs and lows of a regional soccer club? These things have a way of deciding themselves, and that’s exactly what happened last night.
When Grant Stoneman (look at me, knowing player names!) got his second yellow card of the match in the second half of a 0-0 tie, it really felt like it was over for the Loyal. I had already been told the importance of this match, where the Loyal could overtake Orange County for 2nd place in the division with a win, and playing a man down felt like a giant letdown. It was an opportunity missed, and the Orange County goal to take a 1-0 lead felt inevitable before it actually happened just a few minutes later.
Playing a man down is almost impossible when it comes to professional sports. It really doesn’t matter which sport, your best hope is that you go a man down when your team already has the lead and can focus all efforts on protecting that lead with strong defense. Scoring isn’t really going to happen, because you leave yourself completely vulnerable on the defensive end by even trying it.
So, after missing countless opportunities to score in the first half, the Loyal were down a man and a goal with about 30 minutes left. They were screwed. And, just then….a miracle.
A goal! Down a man! To tie the game! The most unlikeliest of things and it happened off a set piece, when being down a man would seem to be impossible to get around.
Maybe now they could lock down on defense and escape with a tie and…
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?
Okay, fine. I’m in. Let me onto the roller coaster. My heart was pounding along with my ears and all I wanted to do was soak up the joy of this moment. I just about ran back to section 109 and spent the rest of the game singing as loudly as I could.
Eventually, I yelled at the top of my lungs when the game ended in a 2-1 Loyal win. Then the players came over and sang with The Locals. They thanked their supporters. My fandom was now a relationship, and I had a responsibility to be a better fan for the team because they had done everything they could to make my meager energy and effort and time put in worth it.
If you haven’t tried it out yourself, I recommend it.