On Thursday, our very own Gregory Caltabanis went to the playoff game between Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact and noticed a few interesting patterns throughout the game.
After propelling Toronto FC into the playoffs with performances worthy of an MVP nomination, Sebastian Giovinco travelled to Saputo Stadium and tried to continue his impressive run of form. The atmosphere at Saputo Stadium was buzzing as the eyes of an entire city where fixated on the 401 derby. When the game finally kicked off and the wind was in full swing, Mauro Biello’s side quickly assumed control and maintained early possession. The Impact’s Ignacio Piatti enjoyed all kinds of freedom down the left hand side and constantly toyed with Toronto’s Jackson early on. After being dominating for the most part, it was Toronto who would get the first chance of the game through Giovinco. The former Juventus man used his speed to hit the Impact on the break but saw his effort saved nicely by Evan Bush, foreshadowing what the rest of his night would look like. The Italian international’s effort seemed to galvanize the Impact who once again reassumed the reigns of the derby.
Before the twentieth minute elapsed, the Impact would find themselves ahead thanks to some woeful transition defending from Toronto FC. Patrice Bernier took full advantage of this and slotted home expertly past a helpless Chris Konopka. Fifteen minutes later, Biello’s side would double their lead through Piatti after an avoidable turnover from Toronto FC. Just five minutes later, it was time for Didier Drogba to make his presence felt. After Bernier’s effort was cleared off the line, the veteran midfielder picked up the ball and crossed it into a wide open Drogba who made no mistake and put the Impact ahead by three goals. By this time, Giovinco had received minimal touches and barely made an impact on the game. When the second half began, Toronto FC’s tactic evolved to a very simple one: Give it to Giovinco as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Despite the increase in his touches, the Toronto FC striker was unable to find the back of the net. In fact, outside of one of his free kicks, Giovinco never looked like he was going to score. After following him closely throughout the year, I found this to be rather weird. This is the same player that boarded a plan in Rome in the morning, returned to Toronto for the night game, and scored arguably the goal of the season.
This leads me to ask: Why was Giovinco so poor? The simple answer would be to say that he just wasn’t feeling it last night. However, that explanation is much too simplistic. From the start of the game it was made increasingly obvious that Toronto’s defensive issues would come back to haunt them. By the time Giovinco was able to see more of the ball, he found himself trying to climb out of a three goal deficit. Quite frankly, his teammates, especially in the defensive zone, let him down. One criticism of Giovinco’s game that can be fully justified, on the other hand, was that he wasn’t able to elevate his teammates games in the way Drogba and Piatti did. In this respect, the former Juventus man fell short.
When the final whistle blew, Giovinco stormed off the pitch and didn’t shake anyone’s hands highlighting his overall mood throughout the night. After talking to some media, he then made his way to the team bus where he got into a bit of a bust-up with Montreal fans which only further frustrated him.
Wow this is CRAZY! Giovinco almost gets into a fight with Montreal Impact fans after Toronto’s 3-0 loss to them http://pic.twitter.com/TIWFKEiE7m
— Marco Messina (@Marcocalcio22) October 30, 2015
After watching Giovinco’s magic throughout the season, his performance last night left the MLS faithful with a lot to be desired. Many even went as far as saying that this was probably his last game in the MLS. In my opinion, that couldn’t be further from the truth. When looking at the Italian international closely, one thing is clear: He wants to create a legacy in the MLS and in Toronto. The best way to do that? Win. And win a lot. While his first season in North American football acts as a nice foundation for what’s to come, it is now up to Toronto to provide Giovinco with the necessary tools to win. Until they do that, last night’s disastrous performance will not be an anomaly but a rather occurrence.
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