TORONTO – He's back?
Roughly three weeks since it was announced that Sebastian Giovinco would miss a month of action due to muscle strains, the Toronto FC striker could potentially be back in the mix for Toronto's high-profile clash with the New York Red Bulls on Sunday at BMO Field (5 pm ET; FOX, FOX Sports GO in US | TSN2 in Canada).
Earlier in the week, Vanney did not rule out a role for Giovinco.
“There are chances, not sure exactly what those chances are,” said Vanney on Wednesday. “There's a possibility that he could be available for some form of time. I don't know exactly what that's going to mean yet. It will become clearer as the week goes.”
But on Friday, after Giovinco was clearly back in training with the side, there was a more firm reply to questions of the Italian's status:
“I'm going to leave it at day-to-day,” said Vanney.
“He got through good portions of the session today, [we'll] see how he responds tomorrow. He was good today, very active. He looked positive, so as long as we don't get any setbacks then we'll make a decision. We're going to make a wise decision either way it goes."
Giovinco has missed just a single match – Toronto's 2-1 win in Chicago last weekend – since exiting early against Montreal on Aug. 27.
The good news is that Toronto haven't really needed Giovinco's signature scoring punch. Jozy Altidore has been red hot as of late with six goals in his last eight matches, and Jonathan Osorio finally got his first of the season. Still, it never hurts to have a weapon like Giovinco, either on the pitch or held in reserve, just in case.
After all, it was roughly 11 months ago that Giovinco, having just returned hours earlier from Italian national team duty, entered the fray against the Red Bulls in the 71st minute and scored that goal, the one that earned TFC their first playoff berth, by shredding the New York defense on an emotional night in Toronto.
With TFC a victory away from locking up a spot in this year's postseason, could he do it once more?
