NEW YORK CITY – They don’t do subtle here in the Big Apple.
Everything is big in New York. Everything is loud. Everything is in your face.
A stroll through Time Square emphatically drives home the point—you’re constantly bombarded with flashing lights, a never-ending drone of honking car horns, and garish advertisements that are ridiculously monstrous in size. It’s sensory overload.
It was across this big city backdrop that Toronto FC, the most unassuming of Major League Soccer teams, dropped the hammer on New York City FC to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. The Reds’ 5-0 destruction of NYCFC was about as understated as those guys dressed up as Darth Vader and stormtroopers walking up and down Seventh Avenue as they hand out flyers to tourists.
What the 28,355 spectators in attendance at Yankee Stadium witnessed on Sunday evening was a street mugging, an unadulterated mauling. There was absolutely nothing subtle about it. And that’s rather the point.
For Toronto FC, this game was much more than just about beating New York, one of the league’s glamour teams. It was about a mild-mannered club finally earning respect and recognition, and getting to sit with the grown ups after years of eating dinner on a rickety card table with the rest of the kids.
TFC quietly entered the MLS playoffs on the back of a victory against the last-place Chicago Fire on the regular season’s final day. Before that, they went winless in five games (with four draws), a poor run of results that ended up costing Toronto a top-two finish in the Eastern Conference and a first-round playoff bye.
More than a few questions were asked about the Reds’ pedigree following an end-of-season stretch that saw them win just once in their last six matches. The playoff path through the East towards the MLS Cup was thought to go through New York, with both the Red Bulls and NYCFC touted as the conference’s top two title contenders.
TFC? They put together a great campaign, but this was the post-season; they hadn’t proved themselves yet, and the memory of that 3-0 stuffing they suffered at the hands—and feet—of the Montreal Impact a year ago was still fresh in the mind.
It wasn’t as though Toronto didn’t deserve to be in the playoffs. It clearly did. But there has been a definite lack of respect shown to the Reds.
MLS’s disciplinary committee struck the first blow when it ruled, somewhat curiously, that David Villa’s kick out against TFC’s Armando Cooper in the first leg was a red card offence but not egregious enough to warrant a suspension. NYCFC’s top scorer avoided sanction and could play in the return match.
On the same day that ruling came down, MLS announced the contenders for the league MVP award. All three finalists—Villa, Sacha Kljestan and Bradley Wright-Phillips—make their living in New York. Conspicuous by his absence was Sebastian Giovinco, who was thought to have had an “off” season by scoring only 17 goals, compared to the 22 he netted a year ago when he took home the league’s MVP honour. The Italian racked up 32 points (17 goals and 15 assists) in 2016, more than any other player in the league and one of the highest single-season point totals in MLS history. Still, it wasn’t deemed good enough by the voters.
And then to rub salt in the wounds, shortly after he received his reprieve from the disciplinary committee and was named an MVP candidate, Villa rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Villa’s mug ended up being plastered all over the evening news here in New York. It was a though he was having a laugh at Toronto’s expense.
That was the last straw. Simmering with anger, TFC could take no more. After somewhat labouring to a 2-0 win in the first leg courtesy of two late goals, Toronto let out all its frustrations in destroying NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, that hallowed sports cathedral, in the most dominant and complete team performance in franchise history.
Villa wasn’t suspended for the match, but he might as well have been for all he contributed. He was a complete non-factor. As for Giovinco, he bagged a hat trick, completely outshining the Spaniard. Not an MVP candidate? The Italian emphatically threw his MVP snub back in the face of every voter who didn’t cast their ballot for him.
After the game, Toronto coach Greg Vanney talked about how being overlooked for the league’s top individual honour motivated the Italian.
“His priority is winning [MLS Cup], but last year he took a lot of pride in the fact he was the MVP … I’m not quite sure how he got overlooked,” Vanney said.
None of us are, Greg. None of us are.
Giovinco and his TFC teammates were tired of playing the role of the shy boy, overshadowed by his rumbustious older brothers who always seemed to hog the attention of their doting parents.
“Tonight, it was an opportunity for [Giovinco] and the group to make a statement. Sometimes, this group feels like it gets overlooked for various reasons, and there’s no better place to make your statement than in the playoffs,” Vanney said.
They made their statement on Sunday, delivering their message in the most forceful way possible: Toronto FC is the team to beat in the MLS playoffs. Deal with it.
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