San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas and star Anders Dreyer have been named finalists for three of Major League Soccer’s largest postseason awards.

Varas has been named a finalist for the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year Award, the league announced on Thursday.

The United States Men’s National Team’s former interim head coach, Varas has led SDFC to a record-setting season. Saturday’s win over the Portland Timbers extended the franchise’s record for most wins (19) and points (63) for an expansion team in Major League Soccer history. The No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, SDFC will host Portland on Sunday in Game 1 of the best-of-three first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.

Varas is one of three finalists for the award, joining Philadelphia Union’s Bradley Carnell and the Vancouver Whitecaps’ Jesper Sørensen. Philadelphia has won the Supporters’ Shield, given annually to the MLS team with the best regular-season record.

Dreyer is a finalist for both the Landon Donovan Most Valuable Player Award and the MLS Newcomer of the Year Award.

The 27-year-old Dreyer joined SDFC in January as the second designated player in club history, joining Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. Dreyer scored the first goal in franchise history in a Feb. 23 win over the LA Galaxy in Carson, and has gone on to post one of the best performances in MLS. Dreyer has scored 19 goals and logged a MLS-best 19 assists, accounting for 59% of SDFC’s 64 total goals.

Dreyer was named the league’s player of the month in both June and August.

Dreyer’s competition for the MVP award will be stiff. Lionel Messi, the league’s goals leader with 29, is another MVP finalist, alongside Denis Bouanga of LAFC, Sam Surridge of Nashville SC and Evander of FC Cincinnati. South Korean sensation Son Heung-Min of LAFC and Philip Zinckernagel of the Chicago Fire are the other candidates for the newcomer award.

The end-of-season awards are voted on by MLS club technical staff, MLS first-team players and select media members. Winners will be announced in the weeks leading up to the Dec. 6 MLS Cup final.

Timbers win, turn attention to Sunday and SDFC

Portland beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday night, setting up their first-round matchup with SDFC.

Timbers defender Kamal Miller, who scored in Wednesday’s win, said “it’s important to celebrate” wins like Wednesday’s, but that the team is focused on what’s ahead.

“The group is happy, but we know what San Diego just did to us on our home turf.  So we can’t get too happy,” he said.

Miller said the team will review film “to see all the areas where we went wrong against San Diego and what we can do better.”

Portland was admittedly sloppy in last weekend’s 4-0, rain-slicked loss at Providence Park. Miller said the Timbers “can’t turn the ball over like that” if they expect to beat the West’s top seed.

SDFC is “efficient and lethal,” Miller said. “They play 11 guys attack and 11 guys defend. They’re a good team.”

Originally Published: October 23, 2025 at 1:09 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A debate on a new tax for short-term vacation rentals, such as Airbnb’s, and second homes that aren’t rented out long-term could be coming to San Diego.

The proposal was approved 3 to 1 by the city’s rules committee, but it’s still months away from a final decision, which would be up to voters.

The proposal would charge a $5,000 tax per bedroom each year on properties, which the city says would impact about 10,644 properties in San Diego and bring in up to $135 million a year.

“Homes should be for San Diegans, not just for profit,” Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who initiated the ballot proposal, said.

Elo-Rivera was one of three councilmembers who voted Wednesday in favor of the measure, while Councilmember Raul Campillo was the lone ‘no’ vote.

“We are going to see significant economic harms and elimination of jobs; livelihoods are at stake because of this,” Campillo argued.

He said this tax could drive away tourists, hurt property owners who rely on that income, and argued that it would not add housing; instead, it might force local owners to sell because they couldn’t afford the tax, leading more out-of-state investors to buy up properties.

Campillo said in 2023 that the city collected $34.7 million in local Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from Airbnbs.

Before the vote Wednesday, opposing rallies were held outside City Council prior to the meeting starting.

“I support councilmember Elo Rivera’s proposal to tax the roughly 5,600 second homes in San Diego that sit vacant when not used by their owners,” one woman said at the podium in favor of the proposal.

“More than 80 percent of hosts live right here in the city,” another person said, against the tax proposal.

This is expected to be up for a second consideration in the Rules Committee in 2026 and would need to pass the full council by March to make it on the June ballot for voters to decide.

Military officials have identified the Camp Pendleton-based Marine pilot and California native killed in a helicopter crash last week.

Maj. Tyler R. Braconi, 35, died when an AH-1Z Viper carrying two crew members crashed Thursday evening during routine training for the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course near an unpopulated area of Imperial Gables.

The flight had departed from Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton and experienced an “aviation mishap” near the California-Arizona border, officials said.

Assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 369, Marine Aircraft Group 39 and 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Braconi commissioned in 2012, was promoted to major in 2022 and previously served with HMLA-267 and as an exchange pilot with the Australian Army.