Tom Krasovic: SDFC hits paydirt with goal-scoring Amahl Pellegrino, who could be a key to playoff success

Even non-fans of soccer can guess whose salaries are the largest.

Yep, it’s the goal-scorers.

Goals are so rare, broadcasters lose their minds when they see one.

Goaaaaaaalllllll!

Only a tiny number of brilliant goal-scorers exist, relative to the demand for them throughout the football world. So it’s up to the teams to find the next best forwards and attacking midfielders and make the most of them.

In that vital area, it was a mystery how San Diego FC, a new team in Major League Soccer, would perform this year.

The San Diego newbies actually did have star power, having imported a pair of flashy wings from Europe — Mexico’s Hirving “Chucky” Lozano and Denmark’s Anders Dreyer.

“It’s not a stretch to say that Lozano and Dreyer are the best pair of forwards that you’ve got in the league,” Minnesota United coach Eric Ramsay said.

Yet the crucial add-on question still needed to be answered.

Could San Diego FC find and develop players who would score goals and outperform their salaries, so dollars could be stretched under the MLS salary cap?

The answer: a resounding yes.

Rewarded in several matches by a fruitful third attacker it imported during the season — be it current standout Amahl Pellegrino of Norway or Milan Iloski of Escondido before him — San Diego FC handled the 34-game season well enough to win the 15-team Western Conference and earn home-field advantage in the conference playoffs.

From there, it rode the full-house energy in Mission Valley to a pair of victories against the Portland Timbers, allowing it to overcome a road loss in Game 2 and advance to the conference semifinals match that comes Monday, also at home, against Ramsay’s club.

When the SDFC season began in February, it seemed that veteran Marcus Ingvartsen, from Denmark, would complement the goal-scoring of Dreyer and Lozano.

But both Ingvartsen and Lozano went down, leading San Diego FC sporting director Tyler Heaps to acquire Iloski in April.

Iloski seemed a question mark more than an exclamation point. He scored just two goals in 18 matches with his previous club.

By this summer, he’d morphed into Milan the Great, scoring 10 goals in 11 matches.

At Vancouver, Iloski ripped off four scores within a 12-minute stretch.

But as the goals mounted, an ominous cha-ching was heard.

Iloski was on a four-month loan, meaning if San Diego FC didn’t meet his price by late July, he could return to his Danish team. Given the show he’d put on, he would attract offers from MLS teams that might have more salary cap space than SDFC.

That’s what happened.

Iloski, 26, went back to his club in Denmark. A month later, MLS’ Philadelphia Union signed him to a guaranteed contract that runs through 2027.

SDFC’s offense stalled out. Another goal-scorer was needed. And fast.

Enter Pellegrino, a 6-foot-3 attacker born in Norway of Tanzanian parents.

Heaps got him in a trade with the San Jose Earthquakes soon before the league’s transactional window closed in August.

Could Pellegrino pull an Iloski?

He’s come close. And that’s been plenty good enough.

Pellegrino tallied three goals over SDFC’s final two regular-season contests. In the playoff match at Portland, he scored once. And in the win-or-go-home match in Mission Valley, he scored twice.

“I have come to a really good team,” Pellegrino said following his two-goal show. “We play offensive, really attractive, fun football. And I can play on my strength in this team.”

SDFC’s leaders hit a hat trick with Dreyer, a humble wizard at scoring and assisting.

But the more impressive feat may have been finding and developing two goal-scorers on the cheap during the season.

“It speaks to the brilliance of our sporting director and his crew in identifying talent,” Tom Penn, the club’s CEO, said Wednesday. “Then: the system, of putting talent in positions to thrive. And the real secret sauce is the outstanding work of the coaching staff to coach ‘em up and put ‘em into places in which they can really show what they can do.

“It’s very encouraging to the future.”

Heaps hired scouts and coaches to help him find suitable players. Upon seeing Pellegrino’s second goal in the playoff-series clinch, Heaps texted two of them.

“I can’t thank you enough for bringing (Pellegrino) up,” it read.

And while neither Iloski nor Pellegrino qualifies as a true “9” center forward, coach Mikey Varas and staff, along with the Dreyer and mates, fit the pieces.

“It shows the strength of our environment,” Heaps summed up. “It shows the strength of our culture and it shows the strength of our coaching staff to be able to still get a ton out of these players.

“Whoever’s out there, it really doesn’t matter,” Heaps added. “We’re still going to be San Diego FC, we’re still going to play the exact same way and we’re still going to entertain.”

Pellegrino’s success begins with Pellegrino. He has a rare feel for spacing, finding the pocket or the flanks at the right time.

At 35, he’s still fast and quick, and able to stay peppy on both offense and defense.

Several other factors lined up.

The 4-3-3 systems of San Diego FC, Norway’s Bodø/Glimt and the Earthquakes are similar.

Coming off two big seasons with Bodø/Glimt, Pellegrino had joined San Jose on a two-year contract in early 2024. But Earthquakes coach Luchi Gonzalez, a former Varas colleague with FC Dallas, was fired four months later, and his eventual non-interim replacement, Bruce Arena, installed a 3-5-2 system incompatible with Pellegrino’s game.

Arena, a five-time MLS champ and the winningest U.S. men’s national team coach, told Heaps he admired Pellegrino and wanted to find a great spot for him.

He and Heaps agreed to a trade for $300,000 in MLS transfer money.

Other boxes had been checked. Pellegrino was on a cap-friendly, expiring contract. He’d been scouted by Heaps and scouts when he played for Bodø/Glimt. He’d impressed SDFC assistant coach Luciano Fusco in their time together with San Jose.

“It was a trade that helped both sides,” Heaps said.

SDFC doesn’t want to think about where it might be without Pellegrino.

Lozano was held out for two recent games, including the playoff opener, for how he reacted to a halftime benching. That decision was made by Heaps and Varas with support from Penn, team ownership and SDFC’s leadership committee of five players that includes captain Jeppe Tverskov.

Now Lozano, who returned and played well in a reduced role, appears doubtful for Monday’s game. He was shut down with a hamstring ailment while playing for Mexico’s national team. And Dreyer was set back by illness, forcing him to miss Denmark’s World Cup qualifying loss to Scotland on Tuesday.

More magic may be needed from the 35-year-old striker who found new life in San Diego.