WELCOME Giovinco! Him arriving at Pearson Airport in Toronto.. #TFC http://t.co/1W1kM1omlm— . (@BTaylorCFC) February 5, 2015 He's here! Sebastian Giovinco has arrived. #CiaoGiovinco pic.twitter.com/ohyNXaHDdJ— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) February 5, 2015 The reception for Giovinco [via @sportscaddy] pic.twitter.com/rK4rmouYIL— JuveFC (@juvefcdotcom) February 5, 2015 Even the Leafs mascot wants to see a winner.
I'm pretty sure that bringing in Giovinco was, in addition to his skill, a marketing venture aimed at tapping into the largely untapped Italian market. No coincidence that TFC II is playing in Vaughan, Ont. as well. that aside, if Giovinco can adapt well to his new surroundings, I'm pretty optimistic about this move.
its only been 8 years for someone at TFC to "tap" into the Italian football bag and come up with something...not only to appease the largely untapped Italian market as you say (I can honestly say that there are tons of season seat holders for TFC from the Italian community..and most are between the 35 yard lines so not the cheap seats either). I say its about time not only for selfish reasons but we do provide some talent out of the boot country.
For those who are unfamiliar with Giovinco's career, he was mismanaged big time at Juventus. His time at Parma was epic as he carried that team and earned back his spot on the NT. He has played for the NT recently despite hardly playing for Juve and was a game changer. His talent and creativity are like nothing MLS has seen before. Good job MLSE. And for once I'm not saying that sarcastically.
I am not sure why there have been no Italians signed before and I hope the signing has more to do with talent than passport (not naive enough to think that this - or any international signing - is not some part of both). What I do know, however, is that this is not a problem unique to TFC within MLS. For such a footballing power....Italy has been a very small provider of talent to MLS in general and not just TFC. If wiki can believed....prior to this season 12 Italian players have played in the league....just 12. The number gets even lower if you take out Montreal Impact. Outside of the Impact, 6 Italian players have come to MLS prior to this year. Is it surprising that so few Italians have come here....sure.......but is it another TFC problem? Doesn't look like it.
before Nesta, it didn't feel like Italian players cared much about MLS. so it's a mutual thing. I suppose we can also ask why so few German or Dutch or any ethnic players are represented in MLS
Yes you could....but the post I replied to (and some conversations I have had with fans of Italian soccer) seemed to suggest that there was a "problem" unique to TFC in the lack of signing of, specifically, Italian players. I think, and as you point out, I believe there has been league wide difficulty in attracting non-english language players from all of the top Euro footballing nations. Obviously I have no idea how much effort was put in (ie. is this the players spurning efforts or were they just never wooed/recruited?) but the numbers do speak and it certainly is not a unique TFC issue.
For the second time this year the Atomic Ant is named MLS player of the week. He is already tied for the franchise record for assists in a season with 6. And to think he wasn't even supposed to be here until July. This is all bonus time for us TFC fans.
Tanti auguri a Giovinco! My compliments to Seba, he is playing excellently! Calling Antonio Conte............
I fear for the double teaming, out muscling and leg chopping that is going to plague every step he takes on the pitch from now on.
For the second week in a row, and the third time so far this season, Giovinco is named MLS player of the week.
I think Mr. Conte should know that, in the humble opinion of Toronto FC supporters, Giovinco really is not playing very well, is a bit sluggish, lacking in creativity and was probably offside on all the goals he has scored. Certainly not worthy of an international call up where he would escape his exile to North America for spells of time.
If Antonio Conte picked him while he was on the bench at Juventus, I see no reason on why he can not be picked while being the starring player in MLS...also don't see how he could be a detriment to the national team.......
See, the nice thing about our team this year is, even if a team tries that, it might backfire. Think about it, if Gio has the ball, how many people are you going to need to throw at him to mark him out of the game? From my point of view, he has a skillset that is incredibly hard to defend against. He's small, quick, and very good on the ball. That makes it hard to mark him out of a game entirely. He seems to beat 2 easily enough, so you need at least 3. Now, what is marking Gio with 3 guys going to do to their defensive shape? If he can drag 3 of their defenders out of position, the combination of Bradley and Altidore is just going to tear opposing teams apart. Fouling him is another story, but short of actually injuring him (and I really hope MLS refs and the league is smart enough to shut that down) that's another risky move. Gio gets the ball in your attacking third. Now, you either bring him down and give him a shot at a free kick on net (and we know how dangerous he can be there) or play clean and risk getting beaten. Don't get me wrong, teams will start to figure him out, I just don't think he's the sort of player that's necessarily easy to adapt to, even if you have studied his tapes for weeks (and I'm sure opposing coaches are already trying do do that).
Mr. Conte should, rightfully, fear that he has lost his ability to communicate in Italian and is now fully uni-lingual in English and his lack of Italian language skills would wreck Italy's chances of Euro qualification. Leave in Canada and don't risk the future of the great footballing nation of Italy's chances.
I was not being sarcastic at all. Giovinco would be much better than Astori for example who supposedly was horrible against Croatia!