TORONTO – By the next time Toronto FC take to the pitch, it will have been five weeks since Sebastian Giovinco last saw action.
Having clinched the Supporters' Shield on Saturday night with a 4-2 win over the New York Red Bulls, TFC must now pause for an international break before finishing up their season with a final home match against the Montreal Impact on October 15 ahead of a Decision Day trip to Atlanta United on Oct. 22.
Giovinco left Toronto's match against the San Jose Earthquakes on Sept. 9 with what was later termed a quad strain. Given the importance of what lies ahead, there was no desire to risk further injury by rushing him back.
“[Players will] play based if there is a risk or not associated with them being out there,” said head coach Greg Vanney on Friday.
“[Giovinco] trained today with the group, accomplished many of the things we want. However, there's still one big step, which is unloading shots and things you do in a match, where it's not controlled,” explained Vanney. “We still have some steps that we want to make with him before we put him out there.”
Nearly back to full training, Giovinco was under one restriction – an ironic one.
“He was on a restriction that he couldn't score,” smiled Vanney, adding that the Italian wasn't allowed to really shoot. “It was a very difficult one for him. We have two weeks on the other side of this game that we can profit from with him.”
Keeping the Atomic Ant throttled back is never easy.
“He's eager, to put it mildly,” said Vanney. “He wants to get going, but he understands where he is at, where we are in terms of season and what is in front of us. He gets it. He's been great in training, his attitude is great. He's champing at the bit, but he understands the process.”
In his third season in MLS, Giovinco has featured in fewer matches and produced less this year than in his previous campaigns. His production is actually better, in terms of goals per 90 minutes, than in his 2015 MLS MVP campaign, but he has played nearly 1,000 minutes fewer this season.
He picked up a contusion against the Philadelphia Union in March, then missed several games at the start of May with an abductor strain. His return against Minnesota United was cut short by a recurrence that cost him a further two matches. He had been enjoying a good run of form, scoring in four goals in three matches, before leaving the Earthquakes game at halftime with the current quad concern.
Vanney and his staff think they have an answer to what has plagued his season.
“He's come from an environment at Juventus in Europe where there are a lot of matches, a lot of high-intensity repetitions,” said Vanney. “For him, that's a good thing. He's a powerful player; he's shown that over stretches of games he can be durable.
“When you look back at [his] strains, they've come after periods of rest,” he added. “We're trying to draw conclusions, connect dots to find any common threads to prevent these in the future. When he is competing and playing a lot of games, he seems to be at his most durable. When he has these breaks, we need to keep up that intensity, choose his breaks according to the data.”
The San Jose match was after just such an international break.
“We've got to find the balance,” said Vanney. “Our sport science group has done amazing job, having individualized stuff for each of our guys. [When] you get a couple instances that show up, you can start to draw conclusions and adjust.”
Those adjustments?
“Little things; little tweaks, in terms of his week-to-week work, adjust work loads, accelerations, decelerations, details,” explained Vanney. “We have a plan from now until the end of the year. The key now is to follow that plan, hit the targets we're looking for. That is going to give him the best opportunity to have him ready to go through the rest of the year.”
Five weeks away from the pitch is a lot of time, but there is no concern that that is too much rest.
“He's not doing nothing,” said Vanney. “He is doing everything to the maximum of what is safe for him to be doing at the moment. His fitness will be good, his sharpness on the ball should be fine, it's just that final step and we have time.”
