San Diego, CA
LAFC, Nashville & San Diego: What makes the unbeatens so dangerous? | MLSSoccer.com
And then there were three.
After the first five matchdays of the MLS season, only a trio of teams remain undefeated: LAFC, Nashville SC and San Diego FC.
What’s gone right for those three clubs so far in 2026? Let’s dig in.
Biggest strength: Defensive excellence
Still yet to concede a goal in MLS play, LAFC have set the MLS record for consecutive shutout minutes to begin a season. Their tally already sits at 450 minutes, and it may not stop there.
Even with a managerial shift from Steve Cherundolo to Marc Dos Santos, defensive attention remains a priority for LAFC.
With a top-10 defense based on expected goals allowed and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris having saved the second-most goals above expected so far this year, as per American Soccer Analysis, the Black & Gold are impressively stingy.
Most underrated part: Squad depth
LAFC’s roster is impressively deep, even as Dos Santos rolls out consistent lineups across league play and Concacaf Champions Cup matches. For example, Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga have started all nine of LAFC’s fixtures so far this season.
Offseason signing Amin Boudri has impressed in his substitute appearances, while Ryan Hollingshead and Nathan Ordaz are overqualified backups at both ends of the field. We haven’t even seen Jacob Shaffelburg play yet as he recovers from injury, and David Martínez looks to have leveled up around the goal.
Deep and talented with roster flexibility for the summer window, LAFC are downright scary.
From a tactical standpoint, Dos Santos has altered some of the positioning in and out of possession. Eddie Segura has become the starting left back in a 4-4-2 defensive shape who shifts into a left-sided center back role in a 3-2-5 attacking shape. Many of the same principles have carried over from the Cherundolo era, however.
From a personnel standpoint, perhaps the biggest newcomer is midfielder Stephen Eustáquio. Currently recovering from an injury, the Porto loanee showed flashes of elite distribution early in the year. If the Canadian international is healthy, he’s transformative for LAFC’s attacking setup.
Their weakness: Balancing attack and defense
Outside of their season-opening, 3-0 win against Inter Miami CF, LAFC’s attack has been relatively muted this season – despite having Son and Bouanga up top. According to American Soccer Analysis, LAFC have yet to post more than 1.3 expected goals in any of the four matches that followed their victory over Miami.
Whether it’s a byproduct of tired legs balancing two competitions, a relatively conservative starting lineup, or underdeveloped patterns in the final third, there’s work to be done.
Biggest strength: A filthy-good right wing
A wing driven by Andy Najar can get you pretty darn far. But a wing driven by Najar and newcomer Cristian Espinoza? That can do some scary stuff to opposing defenses.
Between those two best-in-class creators, Patrick Yazbek drifting forward out of central midfield, and Hany Mukhtar being his typically excellent self, few teams can match the amount of attacking verve Nashville boast on that side.
With clever overloads and well-timed off-ball movement, the early returns on this Nashville team are very, very promising.
Most underrated part: Athleticism
In Yazbek, Nashville have one of MLS’s absolute best ground-covering midfielders. Similar things can be said of his partner in the double pivot, Eddi Tagseth.
With those two patrolling the midfield while center backs Jeisson Palacios and Maxwell Woledzi shut down opposing attacks with their strength and speed, Nashville have enough grit to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the region.
Toss in a trio of Designated Players committed to defending, and you have an extremely well-rounded team.
Espinoza’s presence, mostly.
It didn’t take much imagination to picture the Argentine fitting snugly into B.J. Callaghan’s tactical approach – and that’s exactly what’s happened. Espinoza is sixth among wingers in MLS this season in expected goals plus expected assists, according to American Soccer Analysis. His connection with Najar on the right side and his distribution into Mukhtar and Sam Surridge has left nothing to be desired.
The former San Jose Earthquakes standout elevated an already dangerous Nashville team into something more, and even has helped Surridge contend for the Golden Boot presented by Audi with a league-best seven goals.
Their weakness: Left-sided attacking
For as dominant as Nashville’s right side is, I’m not sold by whatever combination of Alex Muyl, Warren Madrigal, Daniel Lovitz and Reed Baker-Whiting suit up on the left. There’s less reliable attacking threat between those players, though Madrigal could turn out to be something of a difference-maker.
If I’m a team with Nashville coming up on my schedule, I’m doing everything I can to make their left side beat me.
Biggest strength: Scoring goals
Inside the league’s top five in goals scored and top 10 for expected goals, San Diego’s chief asset is clear: they can create chances and put the ball into the back of the net against anybody.
For those who watched San Diego and Anders Dreyer during their expansion season, that should come as no surprise.
Now, with ample roster continuity and the same buildup-heavy tactical principles, this year’s squad looks every bit as dangerous going forward as they did in 2025.
Most underrated part: Off-ball movement
Many sing the praises of San Diego’s patient possession approach, one that featured a historic number of passes played inside their own third last year. With ambitious, clever passers at just about every spot on the field, it’s easy to be captivated by how San Diego move the ball. But to ignore how they move off the ball is a mistake.
Smart, well-drilled patterns define some of the sophomore outfit’s movement, while spatial awareness and organization by defensive midfielder Jeppe Tverskov governs parts of the rest. It’s magical to watch, and it sets San Diego FC apart.
At a macro level, not a whole lot. San Diego have shown the same stylistic approach and have retained much of the same talent that made them one of the league’s best teams in 2025.
But at a micro level, some of the personnel are different. Namely, Chucky Lozano hasn’t made one of the team’s matchday squads this season after conflict dating back to last fall. In his absence, Amahl Pellegrino has continued eating up minutes on the left wing.
Further upfield, a healthy Marcus Ingvartsen has produced in the early stages of this new season. The veteran striker already has five non-penalty goal contributions. Ingvartsen’s return gives San Diego tactical flexibility that they lacked last year.
Their weakness: Conceding chances
So far this year, San Diego have played a little fast and loose with the defensive side of the game. With a style that demands short passes close to their own goal and a high defensive line at times, a bit of early-season sloppiness has resulted in a healthy share of chances conceded.
With five goals allowed in their last two games and having given up more xG than all but eight teams in the league, as per American Soccer Analysis, there’s work to be done when it comes to cleaning things up in the back.
This is the first installment in a series of stories on the history of dining out in La Jolla, how it’s changed and how it continues to evolve.
It’s hard to imagine La Jolla without its restaurants, from the lines stretching down the block at The Taco Stand to the iconic views at George’s at the Cove.
But the way La Jollans eat and where has changed dramatically since the area’s founding in the 1800s.
In this first part of the new month-long series “Dining Out,” the La Jolla Light looks at local restaurants from the 1880s (when La Jolla was first developed and settled) to the early 1920s.
“La Jolla had very few people at that time,” according to local historian Carol Olten. “There weren’t a lot of restaurants, as far as we know.”
Olten said she gets information about La Jolla’s earliest days from the diaries of local pioneer Anson Mills.
“He kept track of where he went and what he did … but he did a lot of home cooking,” she said. “So when they went to a restaurant for dinner, it was a big occasion. It was something people mainly did on holidays or … a social occasion.”
One restaurant Mills would go to — believed to be one of the first in La Jolla — was Montezuma Cottage. Olten said it is believed to have opened in 1895 near the intersection of Prospect and Jenner streets.
Mills described the restaurant as a popular eating and gathering spot for locals and tourists, Olten said. He wrote an entry about a Thanksgiving dinner there with about 60 people.
Montezuma Cottage later became known as the Seaside Inn and Ocean View restaurant. It was torn down in 1931.
Culturally, eating at a restaurant was a more formal occasion at the time, Olten said.
“You didn’t go to a restaurant just to hang out with friends like you would today. It was purposeful then,” she said.
Around 1900, a restaurant known as the White Rabbit opened near the corner of Girard Avenue and Prospect Street. In addition to a rooftop garden, it featured a tea room, joining a national trend.
“Tea rooms went with the suffragette movement because in those days, [women] didn’t have a place to gather without an escort, so tea rooms started opening in hotels and women could go there and sit down and have a social tea or lunch,” Olten said. “La Jolla got in on the tail end of that thanks to [Green Dragon Colony founder] Anna Held and [La Jolla philanthropist] Ellen Browning Scripps.”
One of them, called The Cricket, opened in the early 1900s with white tablecloths. Olten said it was near what it is now Eddie V’s restaurant.
“It was originally part of the Green Dragon Colony … and was sold to a British woman named Daisy Mitchell,” she said. “It stayed a tea room for many years, and she kept a guest book that was decorated with reds and greens and had a medieval theme. So it was very British.”
Joining a trend toward more upscale dining, one of La Jolla’s “most well-established and well-known restaurants” opened in 1912 at 1227 Prospect St. The Brown Bear had “stylish, fashionable service and a menu to please the gods,” Olten said.
A house specialty was Welsh rabbit served in a silver chafing dish. The restaurant was in operation until 1941.
Several restaurants opened around 1915, about the same time as the Panama-California Exposition, a world’s fair-type event held in 1915-16 that brought 3.7 million people to San Diego.
One of La Jolla’s new restaurants, the Spindrift Inn, opened in 1916 and was considered a “last stop” out of town.
“Most restaurants at that time were located in the immediate Village area,” Olten said. “The one that was astray would have been the Spindrift Inn [in La Jolla Shores]. This was in the very early days of automobiles, so not very many people had cars, but those that did would … drive their cars and the last stop before you got out of town was Spindrift Inn.”
The Spindrift Inn later became The Marine Room, which still stands.
Olten said the restaurant was operated by the Hannay family for about 20 years. Their “rambunctious” fox terrier, Jiggs, would roam the dining room.
Another Expo-era restaurant was the Dining Car, which operated in an old trolley car parked near Goldfish Point. Dinner was $2 per person. It burned down on Halloween night in 1923.
Next installment: With new hotels being built in La Jolla in the 1920s came new hotel restaurants. But later, World War II would have an impact on La Jollans and San Diegans in general and on where and how they ate. ♦
Stammen challenged a safe call at second base — one that led to the Washington Nationals tying the game. Fernando Tatis Jr. threw
The Nats had chances to win last night, but they came up short. Some of the weaknesses at the back end of their roster showed up, and they lost 7-5 in a bullpen battle. Now they will look to bounce back at home against a tough Padres team.
Blake Butera has made some peculiar changes to the lineup. Clearly, he wants to go lefty heavy. The struggling Jorbit Vivas will start over Curtis Mead. Jose Tena will also be starting at DH. That means James Wood will go to right field and Dylan Crews will slide to center. Drew Millas will also be back behind the plate. Foster Griffin will be on the bump.
The Padres have a very similar lineup to last night. Rodolfo Duran will replace Freddy Fermin behind the plate. Otherwise, it is the same personnel. We saw Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis start to wake up, so hopefully that does not continue. Blake Butera’s college teammate, Michael King, will be on the mound.
The Nats will look to avoid going under .500 in this one. Michael King will be a good test, but this lineup has been resilient. Hopefully Foster Griffin can build on his strong outing against the Braves. If they don’t win today, those narratives about the poor home record will re-appear. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
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