When Tim Bezbatchenko made it known that their newest designated player would be the diminutive native of Turin, many were scratching their heads on both sides of the pond before the accusations flew. From major news outlets in Italy, the media consensus deemed that Giovinco was solely in “America” for the financial gain as countless players had done so before him.
From a Juventus perspective his former teammate Mirko Vucinic had departed for Al Jazira in the UAE a year prior, with Alessandro Del Piero partaking in the newly formed Indian Super League alongside other Serie A legends such as Marco Materazzi and David Trezeguet. These were moves with the underlying motive of cashing in salaries which would not be possible on the peninsula, and moves that the Italian media had grown tiresome of.
Yet, as North Americans are aware, Major League Soccer is miles above the aforementioned leagues in terms of competitiveness. The fact that thirty-one players represented their nations at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is enough evidence of that. To put that number in perspective, it’s roughly the total number of players English sides Aston Villa, Everton, Hull City, Liverpool, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, and West Brom sent to Brazil – not too shabby for a “retirement league” as Antonio Cassano called it just this past year.
But I digress; the emphasis here is to be placed on just how wrong those who forecasted Jermain Defoe 2.0 truly are. Giovinco has gone above and beyond with his contributions; the knocks on his stature and attitude misplaced without question.
The numbers alone speak for that – in 24 matches, he has scored 17 goals and assisted on 12. Those are 29 goals that he has had a direct impact in creating, and when you figure that Toronto FC have scored 42 times, that’s nearly a 70% ratio. Unmotivated? Nothing further than the truth – Giovinco has delivered and will seemingly carry this club on his back for the foreseeable future.
The tale is eerily similar for the Columbus Crew as 43 goals have been scored in total, with 18 coming from league leader Kei Kamara. That one goal separates him from Giovinco, yet he has 5 fewer assists. It may not seem significant, but it’s a deficit of 12% between the two on contributions directly resulting in goals scored. Giovinco’s feat is made even more impressive with him having two games in hand over Kamara. Using this scale, only three players who come close to these three are David Villa, Benny Feilhaber and Ethan Finlay, with 22 and 21 goals contributed to directly by these three.
There is one name worth mentioning when having the most valuable player discussion, as it is widely held that he is indeed the best in the league, winning the 2014 edition after all; his name is Robbie Keane. 15 goals and 7 assists from 17 appearances is immense no matter the competition, and deserves to be recognized. However, when compared to the total output of the team (49 goals) his contributions are less vital than Giovinco’s or Kamara’s – 45%. The stellar team that surrounds him is more than capable carrying on without him present. Alan Gordon, Giovani Dos Santos, Gyasi Zardes and Steven Gerrard are names that all scream chance creation in the attacking third.
What separates Giovinco from the other stars of Major League Soccer is his ability to not only score goals, but create opportunities for his teammates. Why didn’t Toronto do as terrible as everyone thought they would during the Gold Cup with other designated players Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore absent? Giovinco was there to carry the team onwards by the scruff of its neck.
Simply put, there’s no one out there in Major League Soccer who can compare to Giovinco in terms of importance to his team’s success. Without question he is the best that this league has seen in a long time; come December when the Landon Donovan Award recipient is announced it would be shocking if it isn’t the Atomic Ant’s name etched into history.
