It was inevitable, like a baby’s teething. At some point in the Major League Soccer season, the San Diego newbies were bound to fall into their first slump. That time is here. Three straight defeats, each with three goals allowed, have lowered first-year San Diego FC from second place to seventh in the Western Conference standings. Slumps are assured in MLS, where the 34-match season stretches too long and ranges across too many time zones for any team to avoid degrading fatigue and injuries. How to bust an MLS slump? It starts with having a great Tuesday, said veteran coach Pablo Mastroeni, whose Real Salt Lake team won Saturday’s match in Mission Valley, 3-1, to halt its own two-game losing streak. Tuesday is when teams stage their most demanding practice ahead of a Saturday match. “The most important day of every week,” he said, “is Tuesday.” The first reaction to this revelation: it’s good to see Tuesday get its due, anywhere. Monday enjoys both infamy (schoolchildren dread it) and holiday status (Memorial Day, Labor Day). Wednesday revels in its own nickname (Hump Day). Thursday has Thanksgiving and its own NFL game. Weekends belong to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. SDFC’s leaders, who talk often about representing the region, need to lean into San Diego’s Taco Tuesday excellence and become MLS masters of Tuesday. When the final whistle sounded Saturday, coach Mikey Varas seemed eager for Tuesday to hurry up. Monday, too. “I have no doubt in this group that, with training, they’re going to show up flying for Monday and Tuesday training, and we’re going to take the steps necessary,” he said. “We’ve got to get over that hump, right?” added the SDFC coach. “We’re in our first kind of dip. But once that happens, we’re going to be a team that wins more often than doesn’t.” Varas sees great value in full-speed training sessions, said club general manager Tyler Heaps. To ensure his team has ample juice come Saturdays, Varas shortens a session as needed. If SDFC’s players are dragging on Tuesdays, they won’t make the most of the week’s best opportunity to improve. On Saturday, SDFC had season-best health in player availability, lacking only forward Marcus Ingvartsen. But as he tried to make sense of his team’s poor second half, Varas suggested fatigue may have been one factor. The prior two game-weeks imposed tougher challenges. The first game was at Greater Denver, where SDFC rallied twice at high altitude before falling 3-2 to the Colorado Rapids. Then came the club’s first match on artificial turf and a 3-0 loss to Charlotte FC. When stoppage time arrived Saturday near game’s end, SDFC trailed by two goals. It was a great litmus test for energy and desire. One player who still buzzed at full speed was SDFC’s top star, forward Hirving “Chucky” Lozano. At the end of a dead sprint, he angered Salt Lake players by shoving a defender in the back. Soon thereafter, in the final minute, Lozano went all out to run down a ball near the end line and made a slide to no avail. The play had close to zero chance of leading to a goal. Lozano seemed eager to burn off energy despite having scored SDFC’s only goal, off a penalty kick. It had been a physical match for him. RSL’s defenders gave the MLS newcomer the star treatment, bodying the 154-pounder and heckling him for complaining to officials. When the match ended, Lozano and RSL players didn’t shake hands and Lozano strode to the referee, chatting him up. Sidelined for most of March by a leg injury, the 29-year-old wing has now gone the full 90 minutes in consecutive matches for the first time this season. SDFC’s next slump-ending opportunity comes Saturday in Mission Valley. The opponent, FC Dallas, which employed Varas as an academy coach and senior team assistant, stands in sixth place. A victory should mean tacos are on the house.