Should the day come that Major League Soccer seeks locals who can assist a San Diego club, one obvious choice would be Andrew Vassiliadis, chairman of the San Diego Loyal franchise that Saturday opens its fourth season with a 7 p.m. home match.
You can be sure an incoming MSL club owner would recognize Vassiliadis’ top hire, Landon Donovan, the former U.S. national team and MSL star for whom the league’s MVP award is named. His rationale: San Diegans would insist on a winner, and the Italian style was the best means to that end. “What it means is, we score a goal and then we just play hard-nosed defense, and we lock the door and make sure you can’t score,” said the chairman, who played for Francis Parker High School and coached at The Bishop’s School.“What I would like to do,” he said, “is play this very exciting, fast-paced brand of soccer where we score a lot of goals.