TFC earns its stripes against Tigres

Tin Monterrey his was a referendum on a league and its MLS champion. It was a match, a situation Toronto FC wanted to be in: a do-ordie return leg at a Liga MX venue nicknamed “The Volcano” — the ultimate test versus the best on offer in Mexico, if not the Americas.

It was the most expensive MLS roster against a Tigres roster whose purse is twice as large.

The result was one that validated TFC not just as the top club in MLS, but one of the top sides in this confederation.

It was the night Sebastian Giovinco solidified himself as the biggest game-changer in CONCACAF after his world-class free kick provided the away goal TFC needed to advance past Mexican mega-club Tigres 4-4 on aggregate despite a riveting 3-2 second-leg loss.

“He’s creating. He’s finishing things off. I feel like he’s in top form,” coach Greg Vanney said of Giovinco. “His ability to impact our team is probably greater than any (other CONCACAF) player’s ability to impact their team.”

Vanney reminded Postmedia after the game how Mexican pundits spent days leading up to Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final flashing graphics that compared Tigres’ André-Pierre Gignac to Giovinco.

“Who’s the best player in CONCACAF?” they asked.

There’s a reason TFC’s diminutive Italian received the most emphatic boos throughout this match. Well-informed Tigres supporters were well aware of the his profile.

For once, a boisterous Mexican crowd was envious of an MLS opponent’s roster.

“Giovinco, the best,” a Mexican journalist turned to me and said prophetically, moments before the Italian silenced the intimidating audience inside Monterrey’s Estadio Universitario.

It begs the question: is Giovinco the best free-kick taker in the world right now? Free kicks are supposed to be special. Not automatic.

Giovinco’s been so dominant since joining TFC we’re left to compare him to himself.

While he was good the previous two seasons, the Atomic Ant is beginning to look like MVP Giovinco, the player he was in 2015. Now he’s helped deliver Toronto FC and MLS their best result in 23 seasons.

“This might not have been the most significant (result in TFC history), but it might have been the biggest in some ways,” Vanney said. “The most challenging, for sure.”

Toronto FC’s bench boss was somewhat irked his side didn’t win Tuesday’s affair. Tigres hasn’t lost a league fixture at The Volcano since 2016. That’s how dominant they’ve been. That’s how special an outright win would have been.

“In a lot of ways, we probably deserved to tie or win,” Michael Bradley said. “But it’s a reminder that if you make little mistakes, they’ll punish you right away.”

Lost in it all was the fact Toronto FC lost a pair of starting defenders on both sides of halftime, one of whom was the second-best player in this series. Things became much more hairy Tuesday when Chris Mavinga exited with a groin issue.

Mavinga’s ability to contort his body like Gumby provided multiple series-saving tackles and clearances. If Giovinco is the top attacker in MLS right now, Mavinga’s the best defensive player. He was dominant throughout this series.

“When he’s on his game, he’s as good or better than any defender in our league,” Vanney said. “It’s not just his ability to do his job. It’s his ability to cover up actions with his speed and ability to read things — especially in games like this against very good teams, in tough places to play. We missed him when we had to bring him off.”

It was somewhat baffling postgame to see the composure TFC exuded after claiming the best results in MLS history. As pundits and fans applauded the accomplishment, TFC’s players — save Alex Bono — hardly cracked smiles.

It was as if they expected to get through this series, while everyone back home remained skeptical.

While this result will be enough for TFC supporters and the league to tout its rise to prominence, the Reds are chasing much more. More specifically, a likely Champions League semifinal against Club America.

“The goal for this group was never just to beat Tigres and advance,” Bradley said. “You play a tournament to win it. In that regard, this was a big step. But that’s all.”

Vanney called the result “extraordinary” given the magnitude of the fixture.

But that doesn’t mean him.

“They’re a very good team,” Vanney said of Tigres.

“But we’re also a very good team. That was evident tonight.”

Toronto FC just knocked off arguably the best team on the continent over two legs.

What does that make the Reds? it surprised