San Diego FC, rewarding and feeding off another loud capacity crowd, beat Minnesota United 1-0 Monday night to advance to the semifinals of the MLS Cup playoffs.
Thanks to Anders Dreyer’s 72nd-minute goal and the shutout, the first-year club booked Snapdragon Stadium for the Western Conference final Saturday against Vancouver.
If any MLS fan base deserves another home game, it’s SDFC’s supporters.
Advertisement
Capacity crowds of 32,500 have attended all three of the team’s playoff matches on the heels of a season in which the club finished fourth overall in attendance and first among teams that don’t play in NFL venues.
Monday night, the crowd’s chanting, singing and drum-banging impressed both sides.
“Great atmosphere,” said Minnesota United coach Eric Ramsay, who worked three years with global powerhouse Manchester United in England.
“We have landed in football city,” San Diego FC captain Jeppe Tverskov, who played for several years in Europe.
“I love to play in front of a lot of fans,” said an appreciative Dreyer, who clapped afterward for the supporters.
Advertisement
San Diego, CA – November 24: Anders Dreyer #10 of San Diego FC celebrates as time expires in a 1-0 win against Minnesota United in the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at Snapdragon Stadium on November 24, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The match’s lone goal hit high notes, too.
SDFC forward Corey Baird ran down a through pass near the end line and heeled the ball backward to a perfect spot.
Dreyer ripped a left-foot shot, beating the league’s top goalkeeper inside the near post.
“I had just one thing on my mind: hitting it as hard as possible,” said Dreyer.
Making it a trifecta of excellence, the defense recorded its second consecutive shutout behind a few top-notch plays.
Advertisement
Right back Ian Pilcher’s clearout near the goal-line, in the 48th minute, may have been SDFC’s top defensive play of the year. A goal would’ve allowed Minnesota United to do what it does best — shepherd a lead to the finish line.
“It’s so well-deserved,” said Tverskov, commending Pilcher’s hard work behind the scenes and Pilcher’s adjustment to moving from center back.
Jeppe Tverskov #6 of San Diego FC reacts after a call in favor of Minnesota United during the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs: Conference Semifinals at Snapdragon Stadium on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega, delivering a reprieve in the 64th minute, bought more time for SDFC’s offense to break through against Minnesota’s well-coordinated defense.
Though he lost his footing, Sisniega recovered quickly to block a Minnesota shot. And Pilcher, in protecting the 1-0 lead, denied the visitors a breakout near midfield by smartly taking down a player, well worth the yellow card.
“We just defended with heart the whole game through,” Tverskov said. “We did very well, considering this team is so dangerous on almost every set piece.”
So, on balance, it was another festival of football — SDFC midfielder Luca de la Torre’s phrase — in Mission Valley.
Advertisement
San Diego, CA – November 24: Luca Bombino #27 of San Diego FC takes a shot on goal against Minnesota United during the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at Snapdragon Stadium on November 24, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
But there was a significant flaw in the presentation.
The pitch at Snapdragon Stadium, beaten up by the San Diego State-San Jose State football game two days earlier, was not worthy of a playoff match in America’s top men’s soccer league.
It was far too bumpy. And Sisniega said he slipped on sand, nearly enabling Minnesota to score a cheap goal to say nothing about increasing injury risk.
Ramsay praised SDFC, but deemed the subpar pitch an unfortunate aspect to the match.
Before he answered questions from reporters, Tverskov brought up the pitch, calling it the worst home surface of the season.
“The pitch needs to go,” Tversko said. “There’s no in between.”
Advertisement
San Diego, CA – November 24: San Diego FC coach Mikey Varas, center, and players celebrates after a 1-0 win against Minnesota United in the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs at Snapdragon Stadium on November 24, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Ramsay said SDFC actually would’ve benefited the most from a good-quality surface, noting that San Diego, which led the MLS in ball possession this season, tends to “dominate the ball.”
Dreyer was kinder than Tverskov and others about the pitch, saying bumpy surfaces are part of the sport.
It appears that neither a shoddy field, sickness nor jet lag can deter Denmark’s Dreyer, who in recent days was shut down by a virus that had him throwing up eight days ago in Europe. From last Monday through Wednesday, he was plagued by headaches.
Then he boarded the long flights back to San Diego.
He said he wasn’t at full speed on Monday. But when Baird teed him up, he looked as sharp as he has all year.
Next, Dreyer will lead SDFC against Vancouver for the third time. SDFC won in Canada and the teams played to a tie in Mission Valley. But this time, German star forward Thomas Müller will be with Vancouver.
Advertisement
“The good news,” said Dreyer, “is I can relax a little bit” in the next few days.
SDFC fans may need some time to recover, too. Come Saturday, they’ll be ready.
MLS Western Conference Final: No. 1 San Diego FC vs. No. 2 Vancouver Whitecaps
Angel City FC’s 2-0 win over the San Diego Wave on Saturday should have been a cause for celebration. Instead, it was marred by injury.
It didn’t take long for ninth-place Angel City to take down the NWSL table leaders in San Diego. Maiara Niehues scored in the 17th minute, marking four straight games with a goal for the Brazilian international. Ary Borges finished the job with a goal less than 10 minutes later.
But heartbreak ensued just before the halftime whistle when Jun Endo went down with what appeared to be a non-contact injury. The Japanese midfielder grabbed her knee and could be heard sobbing before she walked off the pitch.
Advertisement
Endo tore her ACL in 2024 and went through a recovery process that lasted more than a year. She returned to the pitch in June 2025 and completed her first full 90 minutes in Angel City’s win over the Orlando Pride on July 3.
Among life’s most magical moments is when you stand quietly in your garden and a hummingbird hovers less than a foot away in front of your face, seemingly taking you in and letting you do the same.
It’s not exactly interspecies communion, but it can feel like communication of some kind. Especially when it happens more than once. Which it can if you have hummingbirds visiting daily because you’ve created a space that welcomes and nourishes them.
Apparently a lot of us in the U.S. have been doing just that. According to Emergen Research, the hummingbirds feed market, which includes nectar solutions, feeders and supplements, was valued at half a billion dollars in 2024 and is expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2034.
Advertisement
But hummingbirds don’t live on sugar water alone, so while hanging some feeders is useful, creating a holistic habitat that provides them with other nutritional and life needs is just as critical.
A hummingbird alights on a bush sunflower (Encelia californica) at UC San Diego’s Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, in Mission Bay. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Keep in mind, caring for hummingbirds is a commitment to maintenance:
• Making sugar water, keeping it fresh and the feeders clean and protected from ants, bees, wasps and other intruders.
• Providing clean water for bathing in sheltered, clean bird baths.
• If possible, growing native plants that not only flower but attract the insects that hummingbirds eat and the spider webs they use to create their little nests.
Advertisement
• You have to keep your cats indoors, too, and be strategic when placing feeders and fountains to protect the birds as much as possible from other potential predators, like hawks.
A full in-ground garden isn’t a must: McLeod’s small hummingbird ecosystem fits in an area on her deck, with feeders, a couple of birdbaths and flowering plants. The plants are also home to bugs — necessary protein — as well as material to use for nests. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Creating an ecosystem with food sources
Birds find most of their nutritional needs in nature, explained Dan Payne, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Scripps Ranch, which sells feeders, food and other backyard bird gear.
“What we do is supplement their feeding in a way that helps bring them closer to us so that we can see them and enjoy having them in our lives,” he added.
Essentially, he said, what we’re doing is a hobby.
But it’s a hobby that potentially goes beyond satisfying our enjoyment. By creating an ecosystem in our gardens, we’re contributing to the health of our environment. We’re attracting pollinators. Some will do their jobs and fly off. Others become a source of food for hummingbirds and other birds.
Advertisement
Colorful, tubular blooms of Mexican honeysuckle at McLeod’s home fit the birds’ long beaks. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Hummingbirds are frequent visitors to McLeod’s yard, especially in early morning and at dusk. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
1 of 2
Colorful, tubular blooms of Mexican honeysuckle at McLeod’s home fit the birds’ long beaks. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Advertisement
Expand
Hummingbirds, said Kelcy Coleman, conservation coordinator with the San Diego Bird Alliance, use nectar for most of their diet, and sugar water is a great replacement for that if you don’t have native plants.
“But they eat protein for a complete diet,” she noted. “They feed on small, tiny little bugs, and especially during breeding season, they will feed the bugs to their chicks, so the chicks will have more protein and grow faster. They also need shelter plants, like bushier plants or trees, to be able to rest on, as well as build nests, so a layer of habitat.
“What I mean by a layer is blooming and flowering plants,” Coleman added, “And then, bushes or coastal sage scrub habitat, where the bushes are taller than the smaller plants, and then sporadic trees as well.”
Native plants are recommended for several reasons. You’ll have more success with plants that prefer the soil and climate where they naturally grow. Many have low water needs. Wildlife is dependent on them for food and shelter. And if you plant natives, you’re connecting your habitat with others, including in our canyons and fields, giving the birds a broader home base.
Making plant choices
What native plants are we talking about? The most often mentioned is the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum), with its brilliantly colored tubular flowers — designed for those long hummingbird bills. Coleman also recommended Dudleya, a succulent that flowers from spring to midsummer, again with vibrantly colored tubular flowers.
Advertisement
Then there are monkey flowers: The bush monkey flower has orange and yellow blooms, while red bush and scarlet monkey flowers, of course, have red, trumpet-shape flowers.
Others suggested to me were coral bells and Western columbine.
Fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) at Anstine Nature Preserve, seen during a nature walk, is a plant that attracts hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Bush sunflower (Encelia californica) at UC San Diego’s Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Reserve, in Mission Bay. The blooms also draw hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Advertisement
1 of 2
Fuchsia-flowering gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) at Anstine Nature Preserve, seen during a nature walk, is a plant that attracts hummingbirds. (San Diego Bird Alliance)
Expand
If you’re sensing a pattern, you’re right, hummers have great vision and are drawn to bright colors, especially reds. (That’s why the most popular hummingbird feeders are red.) So a good way to attract more hummingbirds is to grow native plants that have those brilliantly colored flowers. You can find them at nurseries across San Diego County.
A good source for finding both plants for your specific needs and nurseries that sell them is the Calscape website, calscape.org. Also, advised Coleman, try to choose plants that bloom in succession. Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds are species that tend to be year-round residents in San Diego, instead of migrating, so we need to have a variety of plants that can bloom throughout the year.
Advertisement
And don’t have anything to do with pesticides. Use the bugs to your advantage: They’re the food that hummingbirds — and other birds — need as part of their diet. You don’t want to poison what you’re working so hard to attract.
Anyone can create a home for hummingbirds, says Renee McLeod, a “Birding for Beginners” instructor for San Diego Bird Alliance. She also leads inclusive tours for EveryBody Birds San Diego. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
All this may lead you to think that if you don’t have an in-ground garden, you can’t attract and keep hummingbirds. Renee McLeod, a Certified Access Birding Outing leader who leads tours for the San Diego Bird Alliance and inclusive tours with EveryBody Birds San Diego, would beg to differ.
McLeod and her husband’s outdoor space is a large deck, which she’s outfitted with several feeders, a couple of birdbaths, platform feeders for other birds and some flowering shrubs. Not only does she get visits from hummingbirds throughout the day — although mostly in early morning and at dusk — there are times when more than half a dozen hit the bar together.
Over the years, McLeod has changed feeder types as she realized they were harder to clean, were getting moldy or were hard to fill.
“When we first started, we were using purchased powdered food, and we stopped doing that pretty quickly,” she said. “That stuff is not good at all, and just the regular sugar is great.”
In fact, you may find something called electro nectar for sale, with ingredients such as sucrose, potassium sorbate, citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate.
Advertisement
“I don’t think we need to feed birds anything except for just the sugar,” said McLeod. “They get all the rest of their stuff from tiny little gnats. In fact, when they’ve got a lot of babies, and we go to empty the feeder, it’ll have all these little, tiny gnats and bugs inside, and that’s because they’re dipping their beaks into the nectar with them into the feeder, and then going to feed the babies.”
After trying several types of feeders, McLeod settled on ones that are easier to fill and to clean. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Choosing a hummingbird feeder
How do you choose the right feeder? According to Mark Hocking, the former owner of California Backyard Birds in Encinitas (who still works there part-time), try to buy a feeder that has at least some red on it.
“They see red at farther distances, and it tends to be their favorite color,” he said. “You want to buy a hummingbird feeder that’s easy to clean, because you want to clean it thoroughly, and you want to clean it every third day, and to get all that gunk out of there. The sugars ferment and that’s bad for the bird — and it ferments faster in hot weather.”
McLeod recommends a simple-to-make sugar water solution for the feeder, using granulated sugar, not powdered food. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The sugar solution ferments, especially in summer heat, which is bad for the birds, so feeders should be cleaned out every third day, says Mark Hocking of California Backyard Birds in Encinitas. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Advertisement
A hummingbird perches on a feeder on McLeod’s deck. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
1 of 3
McLeod recommends a simple-to-make sugar water solution for the feeder, using granulated sugar, not powdered food. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Expand
Look for feeders that have large necks that allow you easier access to clean inside. Try to find ones that have raised ports, not ones with replaceable flowers, because mold can get trapped in them. The ones with yellow flowers on the ports are also said to attract bees and wasps, so skip them.
Advertisement
And look for units with water moats, either built into the feeder or that you can hang the feeder from. They prevent ants from crawling in. Just remember to keep the moat filled with water.
Cleaning the feeder
You’ll need scrub brushes to get inside the bottle for cleaning. There are different opinions on how to clean. Some experts suggest using distilled white vinegar, others a 9-to-1 ratio of water and household bleach. McLeod said she’s been cleaning her feeders for years with dish soap.
“I think the thing is to wash them,” she said. “The big thing is you don’t really need to disinfect them unless they get full of mold.” Examine for black dots inside and around the feeder. That could be mold.
Also scrub the threads of the bottle neck, the feeder section and its threads, as well as the ports. You can find tiny brushes that look like mascara wands to clean inside the ports. Rinse it all thoroughly and dry.
Filling the feeder
Once the feeder is cleaned and prepared, fill it with a solution of 1 cup water to a quarter-cup of granulated sugar (not powdered sugar, and not honey). The easiest way to dissolve the sugar is to measure and boil the water in a kettle and add it to sugar in a bowl. Stir and let it come to room temperature before filling your feeder.
Advertisement
When you start out, just fill partway to get a sense of how many birds you’re feeding to avoid wasting the sugar water. One way to expedite feeding is to make a larger batch and store that in the refrigerator for up to a week. But again, bring the sugar water to room temperature before filling the feeder.
Placing the feeder
There are a few factors to keep in mind when selecting a spot to hang feeders: sun exposure, territorial behavior and safety.
“If you’re looking at a small space, keep it away from windows, because bird strike is a very common issue when they go into a feeder and they don’t realize how close that window is,” said Hannah St. John, conservation assistant with the San Diego Bird Alliance and coordinator for the 11-acre Anstine Nature Preserve in Vista. “There are decals you can put on windows so birds register it’s actually a solid surface.”
She added that if possible, keep feeders in the shade to keep the nectar from fermenting. If you put up multiple feeders and you find that you have territorial male hummingbirds (they’re the ones with all the color), place feeders as far from each other as possible and even blocked from one another.
A small fountain at McLeod’s home also serves as a stopping point for a lesser goldfinch. (Luke Johnson / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Considering water needs
Another crucial component for hummingbirds is a clean water source. According to St. John, they enjoy water, not just for drinking, but also baths.
“Hummingbirds also might get pollen on their feathers, so maybe that’s a way to clean themselves off, but most birds do enjoy taking baths, and so they’ll splash around a bit, and then that will kind of help them realign their feathers, and they usually preen after a quick bath.”
Advertisement
Some birds will come to still water, but moving water is attractive. Buy a fountain or place a small solar fountain in a flower pot saucer filled only an inch or so. Add rocks for perching. And clean it weekly to keep it free of debris and algae.
Most of your setup will start as trial and error. It takes patience when you start — and even as you continue. You may get a single hummingbird for a while, then a couple and then, hopefully, more. Then not as many for a few days. If there are males, you’ll see them driving off other males to protect what they see as their territory. Some may not return.
Some weeks you’ll need to fill the feeders daily and then think, “Where did they go?” But stick with it. You’re both witness to wildlife in all their behaviors — and because hummingbirds seem to be very tolerant of people, you can get truly up close and personal with them.
If you’ve been putting off a proper reset, consider this your nudge. Rancho La Puerta – the iconic fitness resort and spa nestled in the hills of Tecate, Baja California – has once again claimed the top spot on Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards list, earning the No. 1 ranking for International Wellness Retreat in 2026.
Eight Times at the Top
The Ranch doesn’t just show up on this list – it dominates it. Previous wins in 2013, 2014, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 have earned it a hall of fame distinction in Travel + Leisure’s history.
Rankings are based on reader ratings across rooms and facilities, location, service, food, and value, so this is real-world validation straight from the people who’ve been there.
A Week at the Ranch
Set across 4,000 private acres of gardens, mountains, and meadows, The Ranch runs on a weekly stay format designed to help you slow down, move, and reconnect. The fitness program is broad – yoga, Pilates, strength training, water aerobics, Tai Chi, and guided hikes across more than 40 miles of trails.
Advertisement
Three onsite health centers handle the spa side, offering a full range of treatments and therapies throughout the week. The food earns its own mention: nourishing, pescatarian-style cuisine built around fresh produce from the Tres Estrellas Organic Farm right on the property.
Rooted Since 1940
The Ranch was founded by spa pioneers Deborah Szekely and her late husband Edmond Szekely – two of the people most credited with shaping the modern wellness resort as we know it.
That foundation is still very much alive here: a focus on nature, community, movement, and nourishment that has kept people returning for decades.
See you there!
Rancho La Puerta has been drawing people in and keeping them coming back for over 80 years. Your first visit – or your fifteenth – awaits.
