The first-ever rematch game for San Diego FC showed how rough Major League Soccer can be when the other team understands you and you lose some of your own edge. Real Salt Lake handled the expansion team’s press-and-counter tactics better on Saturday than in their March 8 contest in Utah. SDFC started fast but wilted in the second half and took a 3-1 defeat in Mission Valley before an announced late-afternoon crowd of 28,116. Coming off two road defeats in a row, coach Mikey Varas’ team appreciated its return to San Diego but couldn’t overcome a young Californian named Diego. RSL midfielder Diego Luna, 21, rifled a high-quality goal in the first half and netted a second-half goal off a penalty kick. With Luna living up to his 2024 MLS Young Player of the Year award and rising stock with the U.S. National Team, SDFC was headed to its first loss in five home matches and third consecutive loss overall. Playing to a 1-1 tie in the first half, SDFC seemed rejuvenated. It outpossessed the visitors by 37 percentage points. The crowd, described by Varas as “so loud, so committed,” may have added to the improved first-half performance by an SDFC club coming off a 3-0 loss at Charlotte FC preceded by a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rapids outside Denver. “The fans are always brilliant,” midfielder Luca de la Torre said. “Trust me, we can feel every scream, every push from the crowd.” SDFC turned in a poor second half. The home team wilted after Salt Lake went ahead 2-1 on Luna’s penalty kick off an unfortunate hand-ball foul on Jeppe Tverskov, who reacted to an 8-yard liner heading toward his head against the run of play. Following the penalty kick, SDFC (4-4-2) was outplayed by a Salt Lake club (4-6-0) that had scored only eight goals entering the match. Varas pointed out that it’s rare for a team to face a penalty kick in three consecutive matches. Asked about the wide disparity in performance by his team in the two halves, he saw a “mental hurdle we weren’t able to clear” and perhaps fatigue. Further study will be needed, he said, but the coach and his players agreed on the solution: hard work, via high-speed practices this week. “We all agree in the dressing room that we have a good team, and we know it,” said right wing Anders Dreyer. “It’s really just pushing through tough scenarios, badness of luck,” de la Torre said. “That’s football,” the San Diego native added. “The only thing we can change is our effort, our reaction to these scenarios.” At least SDFC fans had reason to holler “Chooooooky” — as Hirving “Chucky” Lozano’s middle name is pronounced. The star left wing from Mexico City put home a stylish penalty kick, tying the score a 1-1 apiece in first- half stoppage times. Lozano did a stutter-and-go in approaching the 12-yard shot and pushed a low liner for his second goal this season. Lozano paused after his first step, then moved toward the ball. Confident in his skill, he watched the goalkeeper instead of the ball as he attacked. The first match between the teams, a 3-1 victory for SDFC, was a display of fast-break soccer triggered by opportunistic counterattacks and disjointed defenses. The hectic style produced more clean breakaways than is typical across multiple matches. San Diego got a goal apiece from three players, two in the final stoppage time. In the rematch, Real Salt Lake did a much better job of denying SDFC a clean transition attack. Also, Luna punished a bad pass by defender Willy Kumado, turning it quickly into the game’s first goal, off a 17-yard curling shot that Luna threaded between two defenders. San Diego’s leading scorer, Dreyer acknowledged that RSL’s transitional defense was much improved. But he said it was up to SDFC to solve what the game presented. The main postgame theme from the San Diego newbies was summed up by Varas. “We’ve got a good team that’s losing games right now,” he said.