OBETZ, Ohio—When Columbus Crew SC travels north for the first match of this year’s Trillium Cup against Toronto FC this weekend (5 pm ET; MLS LIVE), they know they’ll be playing a full team. But that’s not stopping them from worrying more about Sebastian Giovinco than they would about any other team’s star player.
The Italian superstar is something of a unique case in MLS. Before Wednesday’s 1-1 draw, he had scored or assisted on Toronto’s first 13 goals in 2016, a league record for consecutive contributions.
With that in mind, Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter says Toronto are probably more reliant on Giovinco than any other team – for good reason.
“I think they are [more reliant], but having said that, I think any team in the league would be,” Berhalter said. “He has exceptional quality, exceptional playmaking and goal-scoring quality, and it’s hard for me to imagine any team in this league that he’s on not relying on him.”
Defender Michael Parkhurst agreed that Toronto relies on their star more than most teams, and agreed with Berhalter.
“He’s an incredible player,” Parkhurst said. “He’s one of, if not, the best in the league. He’s a handful. The first goal he scored last week, it’s just class. There aren’t many forwards in the league that can pull that off. So definitely a lot of our defense is going to be based around where he is.”
As Giovinco goes, so does Toronto FC. Berhalter admits that shutting the Italian down isn’t possible, but containing him is crucial.
“He’s going to have opportunities,” Berhalter said. “We’ve seen that when we’ve played against him and we’ve been watching his games. That goal he scored last week? Come on. That’s amazing. So his quality is very, very high. If we limit him to few good chances, I’ll be extremely happy.”
But Giovinco is a symbol of a larger contrast at play in the Trillium Cup.
While Toronto has gone from perennially unsuccessful to flashy spenders – bringing Giovinco, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley to town while renovating their stadium – Crew SC have taken a different approach, building a squad from the bottom up and moving star player Kei Kamara when he got too vocal for the club’s liking.
“They’re a club that wants to be setting the tone in the East,” Berhalter said. “They’ve shown that with their stadium and their spending on players. We’re a club that wants to be known for our playing style and we want to be successful and we want to represent our city of Columbus. So it becomes an interesting matchup.”
And while Berhalter is the one who set up the team, Crew SC players feel the same pride in what Columbus represents.
Parkhurst said there’s “no doubt about it, the way we’re built is much different,” and admitted the Trillium Cup has become a clash of cultures.
“It’s not only, ‘Which team is better?’ But it’s also, ‘Which style is better?’ It definitely plays into it,” Parkhurst said. “We take pride in being a small-town team without a lot of high-profile, high-paid players and being that underdog … compared to Toronto or teams that have the three DPs and a lot of money spent, we go about it a different way. So we like the opportunity to go up against those teams.”
