Tom Krasovic: Hard to find fault in split between SDFC, Milan Iloski

SAN DIEGO — Unless you want to blame folks for a job well done, there’s likely no one to fault for the financial impasse between San Diego FC and high-scoring forward Milan Iloski that will now send Iloski back to Denmark.

Everyone did their jobs well, creating a price of success.

San Diego FC provided Iloski an ideal chance to succeed in Major League Soccer after obtaining the forward on loan six weeks into the season.

And Iloski, 25, availed himself by lighting up MLS matches as few rookies have.

The alum of UCLA scored 10 goals in 14 matches, showing expertise with both his feet and his head.

Clearly, Iloski had put in a lot of work to get here and thrive.

The loan with Iloski’s former team in Denmark was to expire later this month. Because a deal to stay wasn’t worked out, Iloski’s SDFC contract was terminated Tuesday.

The striker will return to FC Nordsjælland, while SDFC — beginning with Wednesday’s home match against Toronto FC — will move on without a player who scored, on average, once every 47.9 minutes. Twelve regular-season games remain for SDFC, which, at 13-6-3, sits atop MLS’s Western Conference standings.

SDFC fans are a hearty group. They’ve lifted the first-year club to fourth of 30 MLS teams in attendance, at 28,513 per match.

For these folks, this week’s bizarre introduction to the business side of MLS and international football may feel like a wayward soccer ball to the chops.

“Kind of sucks,” Manny Machado said Sunday, following the Padres’ game.

“We kind of need him,” added the Padres’ third baseman.

Not just a fan of SDFC, Machado is part of the team’s ownership group.

When he spoke Sunday, Machado was referring only to the impasse. He didn’t know how things would work out. But Machado expressed sympathy for SDFC fans. And, really, for all parties involved.

“I see both sides of things,” Machado said, “but at the end of the day, I’m always rooting for the players, and I want what’s best for them.

“Hopefully, he stays and hangs around for a long time,” Machado said of Iloski. “He’s a San Diego kid. He’s done a tremendous job for us. He’s helped us win a lot of games.”

Though San Diego FC and the Danish club are partners, they weren’t able to keep Iloski with his hometown team.

“We want to thank Milan for his time and contributions to San Diego FC,” SDFC sporting director Tyler Heaps said Tuesday in a team statement. “He played an important role in our early history, and we respect his desire to return to FC Nordsjælland and his decision to pursue other opportunities at this time. We wish him the best in this next stage of his career.”

For SDFC fans, the Iloski outcome brings home a harsh truth. It’s tougher when your team plays in a league that’s not among the best handful in the world.

San Diego Chargers fans didn’t fear one of their guys leaving the NFL for potentially greener grass anywhere because there was none. Nor do the Padres and Major League Baseball fear losing their players to another league.

“I still don’t really understand a lot of it — with the loans, the transfer windows and all of that,” Machado said of MLS’ system, which includes a stringent salary cap and a single-entity ownership structure for the whole league. “I think that’s the next move I’m doing. It’s definitely a learning curve.”

San Diego FC’s leaders have put together one of MLS’ more entertaining teams. Coach Mikey Varas’ squad stands first in goals and assists despite having very little collective experience when the season began.

Iloski and SDFC were mutual benefactors in their brief time together. Soon after his April 2 arrival, Iloski succeeded at blunting the injury absence of Marcus Ingvartsen, a veteran forward from Denmark who’d helped the team start the season fast.

Iloski’s clean moves excited fans. Showing his appreciation for their support, Iloski ran to the stands and slapped hands with supporters.

SDFC, in turn, provided Iloski a familiar soccer template and an ideal teammate in Anders Dreyer. The Danish forward leads MLS in assists and goals plus assists, a product of how he can unsettle opponents and unlock teammates. There may be no bigger fan of league-MVP candidate Dreyer, 27, than Iloski, 25.

“It’s not only the quality he has, but how unselfish he is,” he said of Dreyer, a veteran of six European leagues.

So in just three-plus months with SDFC, Iloski became an MLS star while also improving his earning power at the sport’s highest-paid position. SDFC rose to the top of the 15-team Western Conference and showed the football world a rare deftness for rapid player development.

At some point, Ingvartsen could return to SDFC’s lineup and attain peak form.

But this is also true: Iloski’s departure weakens SDFC’s chances of winning the MLS Cup, while also reducing the team’s entertainment appeal and its ability to build championship depth.

The parting between Iloski and SDFC showed a sharp-edged business side to sports. And San Diego’s grizzled sports fans know that can happen, even within best-in-the-world sports leagues.

After all, the MLS soccer ball was able to roll into east Mission Valley only due to the harshest of local sports transactions. Dean Spanos and family moved the Chargers out of town eight years ago, 56 years after the club relocated from L.A. to downtown San Diego.

Whether it’s football, futbol or baseball — it’s not all fun and games.

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