San Diego Started Fast
Osvald Soe scored in the fourth minute, and San Diego FC immediately gave Puebla a reason to abandon any plan involving a quiet evening. Puebla answered through Kevin Velasco in the 30th, restoring the match’s uncertainty before halftime.
The first half ended tied, but San Diego had already shown it could make the game move. The question was whether the home side could turn that movement into separation.
The Second Half Supplied the Difference
David Vazquez scored in the 76th minute, and Dagur Thorhallsson added another four minutes later. San Diego went from level to 3-1 before Puebla could reset the room.
Eduardo Mustre’s 87th-minute goal made the finish uncomfortable, but San Diego held on. The late wobble mattered without becoming the headline, which is a fair description of a team learning how to close a tournament game.
The Desk Metric: Second-Half Swing
The Desk’s Second-Half Swing finished San Diego 2-1. San Diego scored twice after halftime while Puebla added one, creating the margin that ultimately survived the late push.
The metric gives the match a cleaner shape than the final five-goal noise. San Diego did not need a perfect close; it needed enough second-half work to make Puebla’s final answer insufficient.
There is a reason the late concession did not erase the win. San Diego had already created two separate advantages in the second half, and both came from finishing attacks rather than waiting for Puebla to volunteer a mistake. That gave the home side something to defend besides a mood.
Puebla’s final goal did expose the familiar danger of a one-goal finish. San Diego had to manage the last few minutes with the crowd suddenly aware that one more bounce could change everything. Holding that line is not the same as cruising, but tournament points rarely ask for a prettier verb.
The Desk Has Ruled
San Diego did not finish the comeback with elegance. It finished it with goals. Soe started the night, Vazquez and Thorhallsson built the cushion, and the 3-2 result held even after Puebla tried to turn the final minutes into a fire drill.