SDFC becomes just the second team in MLS history to win at least 12 road matches in a single season; With the win, SDFC clinches spot in 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup
San Diego FC (SDFC) finished its inaugural MLS season in first place in the Western Conference after a 4–0 win over the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. SDFC capped the regular season with an expansion-team record 19 wins and 63 points. With the result, SDFC also clinched a berth in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.
SDFC forwards Anders Dreyer and Amahl Pellegrino each recorded a brace in the club’s first-ever visit to Portland. Pellegrino opened the scoring in the first half with a right-footed finish off a Dreyer assist. Early in the second half, Dreyer struck twice in a span of two minutes to give SDFC a 3–0 lead. Pellegrino added his second goal of the night in the 64th minute and assisted on both of Dreyer’s goals earlier in the half. After producing two goals and one assist tonight, Dreyer has now produced the most goals (17) and goal contributions (27) in road matches in a single season in MLS history.
SDFC will now await the winner of the Western Conference Wild Card match between the Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake to determine its Round One opponent in the 2025 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. The date and time for SDFC’s first-ever postseason match will be announced Sunday, Oct. 19.
Goal Scoring plays:
SD – 1-0 – Amahl Pellegrino (Anders Dreyer) 26th minute: Pellegrino slotted a right-footed shot past Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis off a through pass from Dreyer, who split defenders to set up the opening goal.
SD – 2-0 –Anders Dreyer (Amahl Pellegrino and Onni Valakari) 47th minute: Dreyer blasted a left-footed shot to the top-left corner from about 20 yards out, extending the lead to 2-0 and leaving Pantemis with no chance.
SD – 3-0 – Anders Dreyer (Onni Valakari) 49th minute: Dreyer scored his second goal of the night, chipping Pantemis on a breakaway. Valakari’s quick pass upfield allowed Dreyer to sprint past three defenders and finish one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
SD – 4-0 – Amahl Pellegrino (Jeppe Tverskov) 64th minute: Pellegrino converted a right-footed shot from inside the box following a Portland turnover. Tverskov recovered the ball and fed Pellegrino, who netted his second goal of the night to extend the SDFC lead.
Postgame Notes:
- With tonight's 4-0 win against Portland Timbers, San Diego FC recorded its 19th win of the season, finishing the 2025 MLS Regular Season in first place in the Western Conference.
- SDFC earned the No. 1 seed in the conference while extending its unbeaten streak on the road to 10 consecutive games.
- SDFC holds the league’s record for post points by an expansion team with 63 points, surpassing LAFC’s 2018 record of 57 points (16-9-9).
- SDFC added a record for most wins by an expansion team (19 wins), surpassing St. Louis CITY SC’s 2023 record of 17 wins (17-12-5 record).
- SDFC finished the season 12-4-1 on the road, becoming just the second team in MLS history to win at least 12 road matches in a single season, joining the 1998 LA Galaxy (13 road wins).
- SDFC’s win against Portland also helped equal Inter Miami CF’s (37 points) and the 1998 LA Galaxy (37 points) for the most points secured in road matches in a single season in league history.
- The first-place finish in the Western Conference and fourth place in the Supporter Shield’s standings also secured the Club’s first-ever berth in international competition – the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.
- SDFC finished the 2025 Regular season having scored 39 goals on the road, while allowing 24, with a +15 goal differential.
- SDFC scored 40 second half goals this season.
- SDFC finished the regular season with a 17-7-4 record against Western Conference teams.
- SDFC beat each Western Conference team at least once this season
- Tonight, SDFC controlled possession, holding 64% of the ball compared to Portland’s 36%.
- SDFC had 790 passes completed compared to Portland’s 308.
- Forward Amahl Pellegrino registered his third start for SDFC and registered two goals and two assists on the night.
- Pellegrino’s second and third goals with SDFC are his first brace with the Club.
- Pellegrino also had a pair of assists tonight, his third and fourth of the season with SDFC.
- Pellegrino now has an MLS regular season career 52 appearances (31 starts) and has registered 11 goals and eight assists.
- Designated Player Anders Dreyer registered his 19th assist of the season during Pellerano’s goal.
- Dreyer registered his 18th and 19th goals of the regular season and finished the 2025 Regular Season with 38 goal contributions (19 goals, 19 assists).
- Dreyer has also produced the most goals (17) and goal contributions (27) in road matches in a single season in MLS history with his two goals and one assist tonight.
- Dreyer started all 34 MLS Regular Season matches this season.
- Dreyer is the only SDFC player to start all 34 MLS Regular Season games for the Club.
- Midfielder Onni Valakari joins Dreyer in playing all 34 regular season matches.
- Defender Manu Duah made his 13th MLS start and 14th appearance for SDFC. He has a total of 18 appearances with the club across all competitions. He also appeared in three 2025 Leagues Club matches.
- Marcus Ingvartsen was back on the SDFC 18-man roster tonight and came on as a substitute for Willy in the 82nd minute, returning from injury. He last played on Aug. 17, scoring a goal and registering an assist against San Jose Earthquakes.
- Midfielder Pedro Soma made his fifth appearance coming on as a second-half substitute for Aníbal Godoy in the 67th minute.
- Goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos secured his 10th clean sheet this season and 10th in his MLS career.
Next Match
SDFC will next host the winner of the Western Conference Wild Card match between the Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake in its first-ever playoff match in a Western Conference post-season affair at Snapdragon Stadium next weekend. The date and time will be announced on Sunday Oct. 19. The date and time of the first match of the best-of-three series will be announced on Sunday Oct. 19. Purchase your tickets here!
Match Information
2025 MLS Regular Season
San Diego FC (19-9-6, 63 pts) vs. Portland Timbers (11-12-11, 44 pts) Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025 – Providence Park (Portland, Ore.)
Scoring Summary:
SD (1-0) - Amahl Pellegrino (Assisted by Anders Dreyer) 26’
SD (2-0) - Anders Dreyer (Assisted by Amahl Pellegrino and Onni Valakari) 47’
SD (3-0) - Anders Dreyer (Assisted by Onni Valakari) 49’
SD (4-0)- Amahl Pellegrino (Assisted by Jeppe Tverskov) 63’
Misconduct Summary:
POR – Cristhian Paredes (caution, 42’)
POR – Joao Ortiz (caution, 51’)
SD - Aníbal Godoy (caution, 65’)
Lineups:
SAN DIEGO FC: GK CJ Dos Santos; D Luca Bombino, D Christopher McVey, D Manu Duah, D Aiden Harangi (Willy Kumado, 55’, Marcus Ingvartsen, 82’); M Onni Valakari, M Jeppe Tverskov –C– (Luca De La Torre, 67’)*,\* M Aníbal Godoy (Pedro Soma, 67’); F Amahl Pellegrino (Alex Mighten, 67’), F Corey Baird, F Anders Dreyer
Substitutes Not Used: GK Pablo Sisniega, D Franco Negri, F Emmanuel Boateng, D Ian Pilcher
TOTAL SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES; 2
PORTLAND TIMBERS: GK James Pantemis; D Kamal Miller –C–, D Dario Zuparic, D Ian Smith (Matias Rojas, 54’), D Joao Ortiz (Diego Chara, 54’); M David Da Costa (Juan Mosquera, 54’), M Antony, M Cristhian Paredes (Jimer Fory, 46’), M David Ayala, F Kristoffer Velde, F Kevin Kelsy (Felipe Mora, 73’)
Substitutes Not Used: GK Maxime Crepeau, F Ariel Lassiter, M Omir Fernandez, F Gage Guerra
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES 4; CORNER KICKS: 3; SAVES: 3
Referee: Victor Rivas
Assistant Referees: Corey Rockwell, Kevin Lock
Fourth Official: Malik Badawl
VAR: Michael Radchuk
AVAR: Joshua Patiak
Weather: 61-degrees, Rainy
Attendance: 24,920
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
SDFC HEAD COACH MIKEY VARAS
On the team’s performance tonight and how it finished the season:
“I think, like I said, right after the game, these guys did something unbelievable, not just tonight, but from the beginning, amount of commitment and quality and sacrifice humility that they've shown. But tonight, I think there were moments where it was the team was just unbelievable, and we showed that away, home. We are who we are, and we always go after the game, and we always believe in the best, and then as overall, like it's a moment to celebrate. I hope all of San Diego feels it, because it's these moments are never guaranteed to you in life, and they're not easy to come by. And I think we said we wanted to be a reflection of the community, and we really meant it, and that's about putting in hard work and being creative and taking risks and making a lot of sacrifice, and really proud of these guys, really proud of the staff, everybody who's involved, really proud of the fans. You know, they've been with us since day one. They were in big numbers here. All of our partners. It is an incredibly humbling project to be a part of. And now we ask ourselves, what now? Because we're hungry for more.”
On Amahl Pellegrino’s performance and if it will be difficult to pick a first 11 for the playoffs:
“Yeah, nothing changes. I mean, we I think our super strength is we've kind of decided who we wanted to be from day one, and we've just stuck to it. And so staying consistent is really important training well, training matters. Every single training will be really important. And just making sure we do everything we can, from a process standpoint, to put ourselves in the best position to win games, and that's all you can do. We want to have a no regret mentality, and that's how we started the preseason, and that's how we'll continue going. And then in terms of these two guys who have integrated a little bit later than other guys. I think they've done a great job and started hitting a little bit of rhythm recently, especially Pelle [Pellegrino], making some massive plays for us. But we have a big squad. This is something I told the boys yesterday when we had to talk about the roster, and we got good players out of the roster. We got good players on the bench who don't get to play, and that's an amazing feeling for a coach, because it means that we have a competitive environment, and they push each other in all the right ways. And I just love being part of the project.”
On celebrating at the end with the team and being part of the group:
“I'm just thankful to be a part of the project and, you know, just contributing in any way that I can and but I feel the same way about the players as I do every staff member, everybody, part of the business team, the fans that show up every single game, and just the broader San Diego community, like it's just a wonderful project and community to be a part of. And I just feel very fortunate to be to be here.”
On his hair being wet and how the celebration was in the locker room:
“This is actually from the rain, but listen, you have to celebrate these moments in life. I don't have all the stats, but I ran through some we, hit some pretty major milestones that nobody can take away from these guys. And every single staff member on every single fan, you can't take that away from us. And so, it's about celebration, celebrating these accomplishments, resting, recovering, and then and then getting back in so right now, it's about celebrating. It's an amazing feeling in the locker room right now.”
SDFC MIDFIELDER JEPPE TVERSKOV
On finishing the season with convincing win and in first place in the Western Conference:
I think we played very mature and almost perfect game. I think from the first whistle, we felt like we were in control. And, yeah, it's, it's amazing to get the final game of the regular season like this going into the playoffs with confidence also. So, yeah, shout out. No goals, scoring four goals ourselves and just in general, a good performance. So yeah, only smiles today.”
On the experience this season and celebrating with teammates after the game:
“It's been an amazing experience. Just, I feel like everybody has, from day one, felt it was kind of special, both with performances and results and yeah, doing it this way on the last days just makes it even more special. It's kind of perfect for us to be able to do it actually all together with all the traveling fans, who's been amazing the whole season, and yeah, all of us together on the pitch after a game. So, I don't think we could have wrote it better ourselves.”
On how the first season was for him and as a team in general:
“Yeah, as I said, I felt like from the get go, it's been kind of a special team, special feeling and we have throughout the season gone together a lot of firsts for the clubs, wins and defeats and hard times and good times. So it's kind of like there's a lot of things that needs to settle when you're a new club, and both for me and for the whole team, it's one of those experiences that you also look back to after you're finished playing, because it feels like both staff, everyone around the club, media, players, everybody has been bought in on the concept from day one. So yeah, me, personally, it's been, it's been one of the most fun seasons I've had, of course, both being a captain and being a big part of it. But also, just as I said, it's, it's an amazing culture we are building. And it's not only for this year, it's for the coming years.”
