TFC SUPERHEROES
The Reds will continue to rely on the dynamic duo of Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore,
Jozy and Seba. Seba and Jozy.
When you talk Toronto FC’s attack, one name is rarely mentioned without the other.
That has largely been the case since the Reds brought in the one-two punch of strikers Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore, a band-aid following Jermain Defoe’s disappointing time in Toronto that has turned into one of Major League Soccer’s most fruitful partnerships.
“It’s, in some ways, scary to think,” TFC coach Greg Vanney said Wednesday when asked about the heights the pair could reach in their third season together.
Giovinco and Altidore have produced 73 goals and 45 assists in regular-season and playoffs games over the past two years.
“It’s great for me to think about the possibilities,” Vanney said.
They knew of one another at the time of their arrival in Toronto, Jozy and Seba. Both had played in Europe. But that was the extent of it.
The beast and the ant, the new Oscar and Felix of MLS; Altidore would bully defenders, while twinkle-toes Giovinco would mesmerize them.
It was a terse way to look at two nuanced players, who are more similar than they may seem at first glance.
“From the first day we met each other, I don’t know what it was, we just clicked,” Altidore said recently, as Toronto’s 2017 home opener loomed. “Obviously we have our bad days where we disagree on something but, for the most part, it’s always open and honest and I couldn’t be luckier to play with a guy that, off the field, is such a good, happy guy.”
The game is much easier when you play alongside quality players who recognize movements and play off of them, Altidore said.
He found that in Giovinco. And he found a player who, in spite of his small stature, knows how to throw his weight around.
In turn, Giovinco got a partner who, while bulky, can dance around the opposition with some of the most-eye catching finesse in the league.
It’s both their similarities and their differences that make the partnership a successful one, according to fellow Toronto forward Tosaint Ricketts. The three are close off the field and the Canadian said they constantly converse about their play, how to be most efficient and how to help each other out on the field.
“They’re both very good at holding up the ball and creating that space in front of defenders, but they’re also both good at making deep runs and taking on defenders,” Ricketts said.
“That relationship that they have between the two of them — when one goes, one stays — that’s very important. The more they play together, the better and stronger that relationship gets.”
Injuries to both have kept them from achieving a true consistency, but the team hopes that will come to fruition in this third season together. Vanney believes a clearer, cleaner version of the duo will emerge.
“When they’re both sharp, when they’re both playing how they want to play and playing together as a pair, as a tandem, I think it could be really interesting,” he said.
Giovinco will play on Friday at BMO Field after a bruised Iliotibial band — the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh — kept him out of the last game. He and Altidore are aware their success no longer flies under the radar.
Staying effective is key for the strikers, and that doesn’t necessarily mean putting up the same number of goals or assists. If they’re drawing defenders away to create space for a third or fourth attacker, that works too.
Ever the competitor, though, Giovinco is keen to live up to the individual hype he has created over the past two years. And he’s expecting his strike partner to do the same.
“When we player together we create chances for me, for him,” he said. “I think now maybe other teams play more in the back but it doesn’t matter. I think if you play together, you play like last year, we are fine, I think.”