The San Diego Loyal SC trains for its USL Championship matches at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. The team, playing in its inaugural season, is quickly taking on a Chula Vista identity.
The club signed a pair of South County natives — goalkeeper Austin Guerrero (Otay Ranch High School) and defender Jordan Chavez (Mater Dei Catholic High School) — in advance of its return to play match on July 11 following the schedule pause in March.
The Loyal remained loyal to the South County region by adding former Mater Dei Catholic standout Alejandro Guido to its roster on Sept. 1.
The club announced on Sept. 8 that it had hired newly installed Chula Vista resident Tim Daniels as an assistant coach.
There’s more.
Defender Sal Zizzo, who prepped at Patrick Henry High School and has the honor of being the first player signed by the Loyal, currently lives in Chula Vista with his wife and family.
With the recent spate of signings, the Loyal now boasts seven players with San Diego roots.
Recently signed forward Miguel Berry, who scored twice in a 3-0 win at the L.A. Galaxy II on Sept. 9, was born in Barcelona but grew up in Poway, while midfielder Eric Avila (La Costa Canyon) and goalkeeper Jake Fenalson (Rancho Bernardo) both hail from North County.
Guido, who earned 54 caps with United States national youth teams (U17 to U23) from 2010-15, signed a three-year deal with Club Tijuana in March 2012 and made his professional debut in a 2-1 victory against Celaya in a Copa MX match on Aug. 22, 2012.
He spent the 2013-14 on loan to Ascenco MX side Dorados and later signed with Los Angeles Football Club of Major League Soccer in February 2019.
The 26-year-old midfielder is on loan from the MLS team for the balance of the USL Championship season.
Guido has made an immediate impact with the Loyal by helping spark a fluid midfield that has resulted in more scoring chances.
Guido made his Loyal debut as a second-half substitute in a road match Sept. 2 in Las Vegas (a 1-1 draw) and earned his first start with the Loyal in the Sept. 9 matchup against the Galaxy II.
Guido assisted on the team’s opening goal against the Galaxy II (scored by Berry) and nearly scored a minute after Berry’s second tally of the night after forcing L.A. goalkeeper Abraham Romero to dive backward and slap the ball away on a 30-yard volley shot.
Guido made his biggest contribution so far by scoring both goals in the Loyal’s 2-0 win over Orange County SC Sunday at Torero Stadium.
Guido, who represented the United States during the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico, scored goals in the 41st and 65 minutes to enable the San Diego team to move into second place in the Group B standings.
Sunday’s win extended the Loyal’s current unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2). San Diego (5-4-4) has 19 standings points — one more than the Galaxy (6-5-0) and Orange County (5-4-3). The Phoenix Rising continues to lead the group standings with an 8-2-2 record and 26 standings points.
The top two teams in the group standings advance to postseason play.
Loyal head coach Landon Donovan was obviously pleased.
“It was not as beautiful to watch as the Galaxy game the other night, but this was a big boy soccer game and our guys came to play,” he said. “They competed and they battled. It wasn’t perfect but sometimes you just have to grind out a win. That was two moments of brilliance by Guido and a really, really good team performance I am very happy for the guys.”
Orange County entered the game with a two-point lead on the Loyal in the standings, making Sunday’s game of critical value to both teams.
Guido scored his first goal on a low right-footed shot. The midfielder took a pass by Elijah Martin from the left, dribbled down the middle and fired his shot from just outside the half circle on top of the box. The shot went into the left side of the Orange County net for the 1-0 lead.
Guido’s second goal effectively cinched the win.
It came on a rainbow volley over defenders into the net from the top of the box that was initiated by a corner kick.
Guido brought down a ball punched out by Orange County FC goalkeeper Frederik Due and struck it with a touch into the net.
The two goals were the first for Guido to go with one assist since arriving from LAFC three games ago. As a reward, Guido, along with Martin, were named to the USL Championship Team of the Week.
In the team’s latest two wins, Guido has completed six of nine dribbles and won 14 of 25 duels while Martin completed 103 of 123 passes and recorded 16 recoveries across the two games, both shutout wins.
Getting their kicks
Guerrero, who played youth soccer in the region with the San Diego Surf prior to attending the University of Portland, earned the start in the Loyal’s Aug. 22 home match against Reno 1868 (a 3-1 loss).
Chavez, 23, joins the Loyal after playing locally for Albion SC and Chula Vista FC.
“Jordan impressed us from the day we first saw him play for Chula Vista FC,” Donovan said. “He is a humble and kind young man who has improved tremendously in his short time with our club. As a native of Chula Vista, he is committed to this community and is a huge asset to our club.”
Zizzo, 33, represented the United States at the 2017 U20 World Cup in Canada. He grew up playing youth soccer for the Hotspurs USA in El Cajon and later attended UCLA for two years.
He made 43 appearances with the Bruins, scoring eight goals while adding 14 assists.
After signing a three-year contract to play in the German Bundesliga, Zizzo returned to play in MLS from 2010-18. He came out of retirement to sign with the hometown Loyal.
As an assistant coach, Daniels, 27, will assist on all aspects of the technical side including creating and running training sessions, match preparation, film and statistical analysis and scouting.
“Tim has been a wonderful addition to our staff,” Donovan said. “He has a tremendous work ethic, has a great demeanor around our players and is dedicated to helping our club grow. We are fortunate to have him here at SD Loyal.”
Daniels relocates from Michigan where he spent years working with Loyal assistant coach Nate Miller while serving as assistant coach at Spring Arbor University and Lansing United.
As a part of the staff at Spring Arbor, Daniels helped the Cougars finish with two Crossroads League regular season titles and one Crossroads League tournament title. His most recent stint included being an assistant coach at Lansing Ignite from USL League One.
“I am thrilled to be joining SD Loyal and the San Diego community,” said Daniels, who is originally from Wheaton, Ill., and resides in Chula Vista with his wife Kristiana. “The club has created a very special environment and I look forward to working every day alongside the talented staff and players.”
Making the grade
Berry, Rubio Rubin and Guido have clearly shaped a new offense for the Loyal.
The team’s current four-game unbeaten streak started with consecutive ties against Orange County SC (0-0 on Aug. 29) and Las Vegas Lights (1-1 on Sept. 2) and has continued with the recent wins over the Galaxy II and Orange County.
The Sept. 9 win over the Galaxy II at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson was the Loyal’s first win since defeating Las Vegas, 2-1, July 25 at USD’s Torero Stadium.
Berry made history by scoring in the first minute of play to notch both the fastest goal in club history as well as his first professional tally.
Guido found Berry in the penalty box and Berry didn’t waste the opportunity by burying a shot past Romero inside the right post.
Rubin, who joined Guido as a Loyal signee on Sept. 1, added to the scoring with a 20th minute goal off a pin-point pass from teammate Jack Metcalf to help the Loyal take a 2-0 lead.
Berry closed out scoring in the match with a goal in the 38th minute by blasting a shot between Romero’s legs after making a long run.
The Loyal showed it could close out the victory by holding the hosts scoreless in the second half. Dominating possession was key — and something Donovan has been looking from his team all season.
Maybe the Loyal has finally solved things for itself. Donovan & Co. can only hope it’s not too late. The Loyal has three regular season matches remaining on its 2020 schedule, placing a premium on each of those games for point production.
Two of those games are against group leader Phoenix (Sept. 19 away and Sept. 30 at home) and another rematch with the Galaxy II (Sept. 23 away).
Donovan likened every game in the group to a playoff game.
“I said in the beginning this is the best group in the league; there’s no question about that and every game means a l lot and every game is difficult,” Donovan said. “I’m proud of our guys for going through a bad stretch we lost three in a row and we got two hard-fought draws on the road and now put together back-to- back wins. There are three games left, two of them against a very good Phoenix team and a very good Galaxy team. It’s not going to be easy but with put ourselves in a position now where we control our destiny if we were to win out. We are right in the thick of it now.”
Photos: SD Loyal
