Mikey Varas believes the integration of a “no regrets” mentality has contributed to San Diego FC’s meteoric rise after his team achieved two MLS victories at the start of 2026.
After finishing atop the Western Conference in their debut season, San Diego beat St. Louis City SC 2-0 last time out to stay perfect and atop the league standings.
San Diego, however, didn’t have a chance at MLS Cup glory after losing the Conference final to the Vancouver Whitecaps, but is one of the favorites for the crown this year.
And Varas revealed that a specific focus on his team’s mentality has been key since arriving at the club, and he intends to continue that going forward this season.
“It’s a good start to the season,” Varas said. “That was a good St. Louis team. You could see they were well-coached and how much they had changed from last year.
“My prediction is that they will be a good team this season. We faced a team that we knew would challenge us, so it was about the mentality we had in our preparation.
“What we said is we show up every day and make sure we have a no-regrets mentality. We make sure we do everything we can to give ourselves the best chance to win games.
“When you do that over and over again, you have opportunities to do it. Now the challenge is how to maintain that and progress. This should be just the beginning for us.”
Exciting month for San Diego…
on sale: https://t.co/sJ1kEBq3Rs pic.twitter.com/bGu59gd8MD
-San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) March 4, 2026
And San Diego will be confident in maintaining its perfect start to its league campaign this weekend, with winless Sporting Kansas City next at Sporting Park.
Following their opening day loss to the San Jose Earthquakes, they drew 2-2 with the Columbus Crew, and Diego Rossi’s 82nd-minute goal sealed a share of the spoils.
John Pulskamp also saved a late Wessam Abou Ali penalty, and new Sporting KC manager Raphael Wicky was glad not to suffer a losing league debut at home.
“To be honest, it’s been fantastic. It was my first home game as head coach of Sporting Kansas City. It’s a really beautiful stadium. Great fans,” Wicky said.
“When I was a coach with the Chicago Fire, I was there, that was in COVID. There was no one here, not 500 people. Really happy with the atmosphere.
“What I said too [to] The team before the game is our energy. We are the ones who have to transfer the energy to the fans.
“The fans are here, a great crowd, but our energy, we have to shine for those fans, and I think it’s amazing how the fans showed up.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Sporting Kansas – Dejan Joveljic
Dejan Joveljic scored both goals in Sporting KC’s draw against the Crew on Saturday, his fourth double since joining the club before last season.
The only other Sporting player to score multiple goals in a game since the start of last season was Daniel Salloi against the San Jose Earthquakes last April.
San Diego-Anders Dreyer
After a stellar season in 2025, Anders Dreyer has continued that excellent form this campaign, already recording three assists and a goal.
Along with Marcus Ingvartsen, the pair have recorded multiple goal contributions in San Diego’s first two games this season, the first pair of teammates in MLS history to do so.
Only Ante Razov (Chi – 1999) and Lucas Zelarayan (Clb – 2022) have multiple goal contributions in their first three games of a season.
MATCH PREDICTION: SAN DIEGO WIN
San Diego collected four points in two meetings with Sporting KC last year, recording a home win and a road draw. They did not concede a goal in either match.
In fact, Varas’ team’s +7 goal difference after two games is the second-best at this point in a season in MLS history (Austin FC was +9 in 2022).
No team has recorded a goal difference greater than +8 in three games in a season (Chicago Fire in 1999, Atlanta United in 2017, Austin in 2022).
Meanwhile, Sporting KC has avoided defeat for the third time in its last 13 games (W1 D2 L10) with its 2-2 draw against Columbus. It also marked the first time they scored multiple times in a match since the 4-2 win over Colorado in August, as the club had totaled three goals in its previous seven games.
OPTA CHANCE OF WINNING
Sports Kansas: 23.5%
Tie – 22.5%
San Diego – 54%
