TORONTO—This was the soccer equivalent of Hollywood mogul Jack Woltz waking up only to find his thoroughbred stallion’s severed head in his bed, or the Sollozzo family delivering a dead fish to Sonny Corleone and his cohorts after they whacked Luca Brasi.
Sebastian Giovinco sent a strong message to commissioner Don Garber and the rest of Major League Soccer by scoring one goal and setting up another in guiding Toronto FC to an easy 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union before 25, 032 fans on a gloriously sunny and hot Saturday evening at BMO Field.
It was the latest in a long line of outstanding and barnstorming performances by the Italian, the previous coming last Sunday when he scored a hat trick and earned an assist in a 4-4 draw away to New York City FC. This also came just days after Giovinco was shockingly left off the initial roster list for the MLS All-Star Game—both fans and Garber (he’s allowed to add two players; he picked Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, who both at the time had yet to play a single league game) didn’t vote for him.
Giovinco was eventually added to the all-star team—the league confirmed the news Saturday evening at around the same time this match ended—but his original omission was a major slap in the face to both Giovinco and TFC, a not so-subtle reminder that the rest of the league isn’t really paying much attention to or cares about what is happening in Toronto. The value of the all-star game was already debatable to begin with; its credibility can be further called into question after Giovinco was not voted in the first time around.
Givovinco didn’t talk to reporters after the game as his usual translator was not available, leaving Toronto coach Greg Vanney to address the Italian’s eventual all-star nomination.
“It’s about time. It shouldn’t have been so difficult, that would be my thought on that,” Vanney said.
Let’s also not waste any more time with the suggestion that Robbie Keane, or anyone else for that matter, is the top candidate for the league’s MVP award at this point. Giovinco has 12 goals and nine assists, and has been involved in 21 of TFC’s 28 goals this season, or 75 percent. That’s the very definition of influence, and it’s scary to think where the Reds would be without the diminutive Italian. Is Giovinco the best player in the league? It’s not even an argument any more.
“He is a triple threat—he can beat you off the dribble, he can shoot from distance and he can make a pass two, so you have to respect that,” Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin said. “For me he is the MVP of the league right now. To shut a guy down for 90 minutes is a team effort. We came up a little short today.”
With the win, Toronto improved to 8-7-3 on the season with 27 points (moving into a temporary tie for second place in the Eastern Conference), and ended a three-game winless skid. It was the Reds’ first win since earning a 3-1 decision over the Montreal Impact.
With Chris Konopka suspended, Joe Bendik started his first game in goal for Toronto on Saturday since a 2-0 road win over Orlando City on April 26. Rookie Alex Bono backed up Bendik.
Canadian left fullback Ashtone Morgan and midfielder Jonathan Osorio were in the lineup after returning from Gold Cup duty, as was American Jozy Altidore who started up front with Giovinco. Michael Bradley is still away with the U.S. team.
Marky Delgado started at the top of TFC’s midfield diamond in Bradley’s absence. With Morgan back, Justin Morrow shifted back to the right side of defence.
After a slow start to the game, TFC sliced open the Union in the 29th minute with a lovely passing sequence in the middle of the park involving Collen Warner and Osorio. It ended with Giovinco playing a slide-rule ball into the box for Delgado who brilliantly finished it off.
Giovinco turned goal-scorer just three minutes later. Off a quick throw in, he unleashed a powerful shot from 20 yards out, and then out-ran three Philadelphia players to get to the ball first in the box and then slam home the rebound.
He’s now assisting on his goals—how’s that for a trick?
“He has it all. He’s very clever when he uses that—he’s efficient about how he works things. When he sees a moment where he needs a little hustle … he adds that to his game. It’s not something you see all the time, but he uses it at the right times,” Vanney said.
The Italian nearly made it 3-0 late in the half. Altidore went on a probing run down the middle before playing a fabulous through ball for Giovinco who chipped goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre, only to see his shot dribble just wide of the far post.
Toronto comfortably kept the Union in check for the second half before ex-TFC man Conor Casey scored in injury time to make it a one-goal game. Too little, and far too late.
Despite his team’s domination of the proceedings, Vanney still wasn’t entirely pleased with the performance, and felt his side could have put the game away much earlier.
“It’s a warm day, you’re up 2-0, you want to control things the best you can. …. We would have liked to have had more possession and wind things down with the ball a little bit, but we weren’t doing as good a job in the second half connecting, and at times being patient,” Vanney offered.
“Too often we were looking for moments to rest when we had the ball versus getting ourselves through the transition into some good positions to keep it and then rest, and let the ball do the work.”
NOTES: Veteran defender Steven Caldwell, who announced his retirement on Tuesday, was honoured on the field during a pre-game ceremony… Philadelphia leads the all-time series against Toronto with six wins and four draws in 14 meetings. These teams will meet for the third and final team this season on Oct. 3 in Toronto… TFC hosts English Premier League club Sunderland in an international friendly next Wednesday at BMO Field… The Reds return to MLS action on July 25 away to the Columbus Crew.