The FIFA World Cup has long established itself as the planet’s biggest sporting event, even outclassing the Olympic Games. Both high-profile events occur every four years.
While the Olympic Games are certainly prestigious, the World Cup offers fans a chance to turn up the volume and turn their national pride into party time.
Chula Vista wasn’t the only South Bay community caught up in the celebration of Mexico’s 1-0 win over South Korea last Thursday that attracted tens of thousands of local soccer aficionados to the streets. Much of Highland Avenue in National City was blocked off after the game, necessitating detours for bus routes heading north to San Diego.
Instead, excited fans honked horns and waved flags down Plaza Boulevard. A spontaneous fireworks display even lit up the festivities.
Everyday life seems to come to a halt during the World Cup. There’s no competing against it for attention. Thus, with North America playing host to the 2026 mega tournament, the continent’s two major soccer leagues – Major League Soccer and the Women’s National Soccer Leaguer — have both taken a well-timed break.
MLS is taking a substantial pause in its 2026 schedule – nearly two months – while the NWSL has elected to postpone league matches for five weeks.
San Diego FC played its last match on May 23 — a 4-2 loss to the MLS Cup runner-up Vancouver Whitecaps. The local kickers return to the pitch on July 22 with a road game in Colorado and host FC Dallas on July 25.
The San Diego Wave FC last played on May 31 – a 2-0 road win in Chicago. They resume their summer schedule with a July 4 home game against Gotham FC at Snapdragon Stadium.
Pretty in pink
The Wave enters the second half of the season on top of the league’s 16-team table with a record of eight wins, four losses and three ties for 25 standings points– one point ahead of the Utah Royals FC (7-3-2, 24 points) and Portland Thorns (7-3-3, 24 points).
The top eight teams qualify for the 2026 NWSL playoffs. While the Wave secured the No. 6 playoff berth last season while sneaking into the postseason by one standings point, the local kickers appear to be dictating the pace this season.
The Wave engineered a five-match winning streak from March 22 to April 25 to make a climb up the standings. Wins came against Utah (2-1), Portland (3-1), Chicago (2-0), Boston (1-0) and Denver (3-2).
There’s still much to prove, however.
Regular season play extends through Nov. 2, followed by playoffs Nov. 7-22.
The Wave will be looking to pick up from where it left off following its shutout victory over the host Chicago Stars. Brazilian forward Dudinha opened scoring with her team-leading fifth goal of the year. Trinity Byars doubled the score in the dying moments of the match with her third career goal as the Wave secured its third clean sheet on the season thanks to three saves by Bosnian international goalkeeper DiDi Hara?i?.
Hara?i?, who replaces Canadian international Kailen Sheridan in the net, is a capable veteran with appearances in more than 100 matches with various clubs since her NWSL debut in 2013.
Sheridan has since signed a two-year contract with the North Carolina Courage. She will be tasked with moving her team, currently in seventh place in the standings, in pursuit of the Wave.
Men about town
San Diego fell to Vancouver, 3-1, in last year’s Western Conference playoff final on Nov. 29 in front if a sellout crowd of 32,502 fans at Snapdragon Stadium.
That was last year. Quite a bit has changed since then.
The local side entered the midpoint of its second season with some ground to make up after posting nothing short of an incredible debut campaign in 2025.
SDFC set two league records expansion team records in its start-up season: most standings points (63) and most wins (19).
The San Diego side surpassed the 57 points compiled by the Los Angeles Football Club in 2018 and the 17 wins by St. Louis CITY SC in 2023.
Following the May 23 loss to Vancouver, San Diego FC’s record stood at four wins, six losses and five ties for 17 standings points — 15 points off the lead by the Whitecaps and San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference standings.
The top nine teams in the conference qualify for the playoffs. SDFC stood in 10th place — three points behind the ninth place L.A. Galaxy (5-5-5, 20 points) — at the midseason break.
There’s plenty of time to make up ground and vie for playoff berths. The regular season schedule extends through Nov. 7.
The 2026 MLS Cup playoffs are scheduled to kick-off Nov. 18. The format includes five rounds: a single-elimination wildcard round between the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, a best-of-three first-round series, a single-elimination conference semifinal, a single-elimination conference final and the MLS Cup Final.
Ties in the wildcard round are decided by a penalty shootout. Two 15-minute overtime periods will be played in the conference semifinals if tied after 90 minutes. If needed, extra time will be played in the conference final.
The top seven teams in each conference automatically qualify for the playoffs.
Overall, 11 players had tallied goals in the first half of the season for SDFC: Marcus Ingvartsen (11 goals), Andreas Dreyer (seven goals),David Vazquez (six goals), Onni Valakari (three goals), 18-year-old rookie Bryan Zamble (two goals), Luca Bombino (two goals), Amahi Pellegrino (two goals), Chris McVey (one goal), Manu Duah (one goal), Alex Mighten (one goal) and Pedro Soma (one goal).
The team’s goalkeeping position has been anchored this season by 19-year-old San Diego native Duran Ferree and Cade Verde World Cup call-up C.J. Dos Santos.
Chula Vista Watch Party photos by Karla Martinez
