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Posted by
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October 22, 2015 |
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Aaron Nielsen
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@ENBSports
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As Canadians, we have a hard time feeling respected, especially when it comes to sports and in comparison to the United States. One of my first RedNation Online columns was on this subject and how Canadian MLS teams have to live within an American soccer system, and there are parallels in other sports as we see the recent scheduling for the Blue Jays playoff games which saw them play on Election Day, Thanksgiving Sunday and other random times in the afternoon.
When the current MLS season was at the midway point, it was understandable that Toronto FC fans didn't think Sebastian Giovinco was going to get the credit he deserves. This despite anyone watching him play or just looking at the numbers could see he was on pace to having one of the best seasons in MLS history. It hasn't been until later this season when he has continued to impress with his overall play, make highlight reels each MLS week with his goals, and finally clinch a playoff position for the first time for Toronto FC, that the chorus is unanimous on his value.
For RedNation Online and myself, the Giovinco story holds some importance as I wrote in the preseason on Giovinco’s potential impact on the season with the title "Giovinco’s overall level of talent yet to be seen in MLS", and predicting through a statistical model I've developed that he would lead the league in combined goals and assists this the season. Truth be told, what he has accomplished this season has gone beyond my expectations, including a league leading 22 goals. With Kei Kamara out the final week of the season the Leading Goalscorer title is up for grabs and he has the league leading 15 assists, which he shares with Philadelphia Union set play specialist Cristian Maidana. Giovinco also took 177 shots, 43 more than 2nd place David Villa, league leading 71 shots on target, has been fouled the most times with 88, is ninth in crosses with 121 attempted and third in attempted dribbles with 134.
As is the case with many great players, you don't need statistics to prove his impact on the field. Every time he touches the ball he becomes the centerpiece of attention from the team around, to the opponents, to everyone watching in hopes that act of brilliance happens. We all saw this many times live this season, including the fantastic goal against the New York Red Bulls that clinched Toronto FC’s playoff birth and should be goal of the season this year. I was standing in the supporters section just right of the net and saw him pick up the ball near the half, go through the first defender, slalom through the rest of the Red Bulls defense, and what impressed me the most is after all of that was the quality of shot he took. To cap off a great goal and a great night he ran just in front of south end, "stirring the pot" in homage to the Toronto Blue Jays who had just beat Texas in the ALDS.
Getting caught up in Giovinco’s heroics first hand, it might be easy to miss other strong performances in MLS this season. Kei Kamara, who I did predict as the league’s leading goalscorer before the season, has had a great season with Columbus scoring 22 goals and adding 8 assists. Kamara's teammate Ethan Finlay has also scored 10 goals and added 13 assists, while Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber has 10 goals and 14 assists. These are exceptional numbers, since in soccer it is rare to find players who can score and also provide goals to their teammates. Other strong performers include Robbie Keane, who has 17 goals and 8 assists this season in 22 games and continues to be one of the greatest MLS players of all-time with 70 goals and 43 assists in 106 career games.
Canadian Cyle Larin should certainly be included in this list of top 2015 performers, as he has 17 goals in his rookie professional season over 1816 minutes. This not only puts him ahead of Keane, Obefemi Martins and Jozy Altidore in terms of goals per 90 minutes, but also puts him in the top 10 if you include all first divisions around the World during the 2015 calendar year. He is almost a shoe-in to win MLS Rookie of the year the award, following fellow Canadian Tesho Akindele who won in 2014. Larin is also an RNO favorite who we wrote about many times through his success with Sigma FC and at the University of Connecticut. He is now establishing himself on the Canadian National Team, and all of this for a player who just turned 20 years old and potentially is on track for a multi-million dollar transfer to a top five league in Europe.
In terms of overall team performance, we need to give the Vancouver Whitecaps credit for a good season and clinching a playoff spot in the difficult Western Conference. The Whitecaps were in line to win the best record overall in the league, although they have struggled over the last five games only attaining two points. Part of this has been because the slumping form of Octavio Rivero, but he still scored 10 goals this season. While Kekuta Mennah, Christian Techera, and Pedro Morales when healthy has been an offensive threats, but it is the Whitecaps MVP and player who should win the league’s top keeper is ever-present David Ousted who has saved four penalties, has 12 shutouts and a .730 save percentage and will be key player if the Whitecaps are going to advance in the playoffs.
He wouldn't qualify if I was going to give one name to compete with Giovinco for MLS MVP, and that would be the Montreal Impact's Didier Drogba. One the of the greatest players is proving his reputation by scoring nine goals in his first 10 MLS games and more importantly has lead the Impact to a 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses since joining the club. He has helped make the Impact a playoff team, the only Canadian club I didn't think would make the post season at the beginning of the year. Even before his success in MLS, I hold Drogba as the greatest player to come into the league and I know he doesn't have the World Cup success of Alessandro Pirlo or David Villa and some might like David Beckham, Keane, Steven Gerrard, or Frank Lampard instead. What I respect about Drogba has been his ability to be impactful in many leagues including France, China, Turkey and also scoring 104 goals in the English Premier League and attaining over 100 caps with the Cote d'Iviore, scoring 65 goals.
I feel as a Canadian, and in many ways a soccer nomad, we can relate with Drogba in terms of these struggles to establishing ourselves on the soccer stage. In the case of Drogba, he moved to France at the age of thirteen to pursue a career as a soccer player and was even being cut by his first few academy teams before establishing himself as a player. One of the criticisms against him in his career has been his arrogance, almost taking on an American sports athlete bravado, but to me it shouldn't be a criticism but more should enjoyed for an attitude of someone making it. Probably more important than his goals or the belief he gave his first team to be a playoff contender is this video of him hanging out and fooling around with the Montreal Academy Youth Players - an experience they will never forget.
I feel the greatest reward MLS and Canada have gained from Giovinco and Drogba is, as role-models in the game and as Cyle Larin is proving even against incredible odds, you can gain respect in the game for your accomplishments. If you look at the faces of the youth players in the Drogba video or when young players meet Giovinco, you know someday they want to be professional soccer players, which is something I don't think we could have said in Canada a few years ago.
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Aaron Neilsen is a co-founder of Prospect XI (Prospect Eleven), a scouting network and online magazine dedicated to tracking/highlighting young players that refer to as "prospects" as well as their development pathways both within North America and worldwide. Follow PXI via www.prospectxi.com or on twitter @ProspectXI.
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