Sebastian Giovinco is perhaps the best player in the history of MLS, a world-class talent who makes the otherworldly look regular, a player who amazes so often, it’s a bit surprising when he fails to astonish.
The reigning MLS MVP has been magic in his last four games, registering two hat tricks, seven total goals and three assists to move into first in the league with 15 goals and into a tie for second with 10 helpers.
The run has been as artistic as it’s been dominant, with the Italian scoring a pair of breathtaking goals – a curler on the volley with the outside of his right foot and a dipping, surprising blast from just outside the box – in Toronto’s 4-1 win against New England last weekend.
“It’s special,” Toronto FC president Bill Manning told MLSsoccer.com over the phone earlier this week. “He does things that few other players in this league have been able to do. He just scores some magical goals. The first goal he scored against New England this weekend was, you’re just like, ‘Oh my god.’ And then he scores an even better goal, he takes a little glance up and chips it over the goalkeeper’s head. He’s just at another level.”
Of course, this isn’t exactly new for Giovinco, who, it should be noted, is under contract until 2019. He had 22 goals and 16 assists in 33 regular season appearances last year, a league record for most combined goals and assists in a single year. He even had a couple of runs similar to his current assault on opposing defenses last year, notching five goals and three assists in three games last July and five goals and two assists in four matches in September and October.
What is new is Toronto FC’s place in the MLS hierarchy. TFC, who won the Canadian Championship in June, turned Giovinco’s three-week bombardment into four wins in their recent four-game home stand, moving within a point of New York City FC for the Eastern Conference lead and passing NYCFC for the East’s best points per game average.
Toronto didn’t hit those heights last year, when, despite Giovinco’s brilliance, they finished sixth in the East and lost to Montreal in the Knockout Round of the playoffs. That they’ve been able to improve this season isn’t merely thanks to their Italian star, who, for as outstanding as he’s been, was probably more consistent in 2015.
Their current place in the standings is as much due to an improved defense and increased depth as it is to Giovinco.
Offseason acquisitions Clint Irwin, Drew Moor, Steven Beitashour and Will Johnson have shored up a defense that conceded the most goals in the league last year but has allowed an East-low 24 in 2016. Youngsters Jonathan Osorio, Jay Chapman, Marky Delgado, Tsubasa Endoh, Eriq Zavaleta and Jordan Hamilton have also emerged, helping TFC collect points while Designated PlayersMichael Bradley and Jozy Altidore, veteran central midfielder Benoit Cheyrou and Johnson missed significant portions of the year due to injuries and international duty.
Bolstering the defense with veterans Moor and Beitashour was very much a part of Toronto’s plan this year, as was the continued growth of Osorio and Delgado, who had established themselves as capable MLS players prior to this season. The simultaneous emergence of Endoh, Chapman, Hamilton and Zavaleta was somewhat less expected, however, and allowed Manning, GM Tim Bezbatchenko and head coach Greg Vanney to not only let center back Damien Perquis leave on a free to Nottingham Forest in July but to also be very selective – and ultimately stay out of – the summer transfer market.
“With Will out and with Michael out and with Benoit getting injured the first time, we were very young so we were thinking of adding a midfielder,” Manning said. “But as Jay got more minutes and as Marky got more minutes and Tsubasa and Jonathan, we kind of looked at ourselves and were like, ‘Woo, we need to be really careful about what we’re doing here.”
“With the strength of this team, it was like we don’t have to do it. We don’t have to make a move.”
Even with no summer arrivals, Toronto, who play at Houston on Saturday (9 pm ET; MLS LIVE), have a roster that I view as the deepest and most talented in the East. They have an excellent mix of legitimate stars (Giovinco, Bradley and, yes, Altidore), proven veterans in net, on the backline and in the center midfield, as well as emerging young players on every line.
They also have an improving head coach in Greg Vanney, who still has his share of doubters in Ontario. Manning, who moved from Real Salt Lake to Toronto last year, has liked what he’s seen from the third-year manager, saying his growth similar has been similar to what Manning saw from a young Jason Kreis during the current Orlando manager’s early days in Salt Lake.
That’s not the only resemblance Manning sees between Toronto and his old club, either. He feels that TFC, who he said have no intention of selling Giovinco or Bradley despite receiving regular interest for both, now have the sort of roster that, like RSL earlier this decade, will be able to consistently compete for championships.
That’s a welcome change for notoriously volatile TFC, whose newfound stability, depth, defensive improvement and star power Manning feels should have them in the mix for MLS Cup this year and beyond.
“I feel there’s a foundation here now that we can build off for many years,” Manning said. “The years of TFC going through their whole roster year after year with new players is gone. I’m so much against that. I think you’ve got to have consistency and guys have got to feel like they belong. They gotta feel like they’re part of your club and if there’s constant turnover and constant turmoil you never can build that.”
“For me, it’s about building a team that can compete for a championship,” he continued. “I honestly believe that as we build this club, that if we put ourselves in a situation to win a championship each year we’re going to win a few.”
