Every Friday, Sportsnet.ca will chat with Sportsnet soccer commentator Paul Dolan—a former Canadian national team goalkeeper—about the big stories and issues in Major League Soccer.
Sebastian Giovinco received some rough treatment from New York City FC in last week’s home loss. Coach Greg Vanney fumed afterwards, saying the league has to do more to protect star players like the Italian. What can or should MLS do?
No one has been able to design a game plan to effectively stop Sebastian Giovinco until Jason Kreis cynically instructed his NYCFC team to get physical with Toronto’s dominating forward last weekend. This is the last thing Major League Soccer wants to see, their star players being nullified through brute force. Persistent infringement bookings are a must in cases like this but City did a very good job of spreading the hate as three of the back four received cards on the day and no one player was in danger of being sent off.
Generally, Giovinco himself has punished teams that look to foul him around the penalty area by consistently testing the goalkeeper with shots on target from ensuing free kicks. That will continue to be the risk teams take who want to play physically with Giovinco from here on in. Hopefully, for the sake of the majority of fans of the game who want to see talent prevail over thuggery, the league will clamp down on overly physical play with sterner officiating and subsequent suspensions if need be for anything over the top.
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Nigel Reo-Coker called Montreal Impact teammate Danny Toia the team’s most consistent player and the best left fullback in MLS following last week’s home win over Orlando. What’s your evaluation of Toia?
I didn’t know much about Danny Toia except for a couple of games we saw him play last year at Chivas but he stood out as being one of the best players on the field in Montreal’s most difficult match of their CONCACAF Champions League run at Azteca this spring. He was phenomenal in that game, running the flank for the full 90 minutes and not giving the Club America attack a sniff at goal from his left side. Since then he has grown in confidence, and a position I thought would be a real concern for the Impact has turned into one of their most consistent strengths as Reo-Coker pointed out.
He and the rest of the Impact were not as good Wednesday night against Toronto but we have seen far more good performances from Toia than poor ones and he will only grow with experience playing right next to the very talented Laurent Ciman every day in training and in games.
David Ousted saved two penalty kicks for the Whitecaps in last week’s win over the New York Red Bulls. As a former goalkeeper, how special was this achievement by the Dane?
I don’t recall ever having two penalties called against my team in one game, never mind actually saving them both. I honestly don’t remember that ever happening anywhere so it is an incredible achievement to save two penalty kicks, although for me, the more unbelievable thing is that so few league-wide pundits and followers of MLS have conceded that he is the best ‘keeper in the league. He has been incredibly consistent, the number one attribute you look for from your goalkeeper.
Ousted has won the Whitecaps the full three points in at least FOUR games away from home this year with timely saves and did the same with the two spot-kick stops at Red Bull Arena last week. He’s got a big challenge on his hands against an offensively talented New England team in Foxboro Saturday and if he manages to win Vancouver the points again his critics (or those who just aren’t aware of his talents yet) will have no choice but consider him as one of the top ‘keepers in the league so far this year.
What do you think about reports of Andrea Pirlo joining New York City FC? Is this a good move for player and club?
From a marketing perspective, it’s fantastic, as NYCFC gets themselves one of the world’s best midfielders to join two of the other most well-known players in the world in David Villa and Frank Lampard. My concern is the age of the three DPs who will be 37, 34 and 38 respectively for the better part of next season when all three will play a full season together for the first time. That is just too old in a league as athletic as MLS where opposition midfielders will run all day long in hot weather in the midst of a busy season travelling from coast to coast.
I’m not sure the balance of the team would work best with that mix either and the smaller confines of Yankee Stadium limits the space with which Andrea Pirlo could operate effectively. Dollars are no object for the NYCFC owners but you just feel the money could be better spent with players in their prime rather than a heavy reliance on three older DP’s alongside the MLS expansion cast-offs the team is currently made of.
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