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MLS Player of the Month

SBI MLS Player of the Month: Sebastian Giovinco

In April, the 2015 MLS MVP showed the league that he wants to retain that title at year’s end.

Sebastian Giovinco scored four goals to lead Toronto FC to a 2-1-1 record, which is even more impressive given the fact that all four games were played on the road. His performances and goals scored against the likes of the Montreal Impact and the New England Revolution earn the Italian attacker honors as SBI MLS Player of the Month.

Giovinco has six goals to date this MLS campaign, and a bulk of those were scored this past month. His best performance came against the club’s Canadian rivals, the Impact, on April 23, when he netted a double.

The 29-year-old has combined well with Jozy Altidore in recent weeks, and Giovinco has showed no signs of a sophomore slump as he continues to create and dazzle on the ball.

TFC’s star man beat out Chris Wondolowski of the San Jose Earthquakes, Giovani dos Santos of the LA Galaxy and Fanendo Adi of the Portland Timbers for this month’s honors.

What did you think of Giovinco’ performances throughout April? Who did you see as the best player last month in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Crooks: NYCFC Is Failing, But Are The Expectations Reasonable?

At 1-3-4, Vieira's Club Needs To Get Over Its Many Defensive Problems And Start Winning Matches

Expectation is a word that can bestow a weighty burden on people both personally and professionally.

Parents assert elevated expectations on their children in and out of the classroom. The demands may lead to resentment and detachment.

Those in sales are expected to meet quotas on a monthly or quarterly basis. Failure to consistently sustain a standard may lead to dismissal.

Individuals in supervisory positions, like a parent or executive, must weigh numerous factors before determining those prospects. Regrettably, the expectations in some cases are impracticable.

While there may have been added factors, the City Football Group sacked Jason Kreis when he failed to meet the unrealistic expectation of a playoff birth in New York City FC’s inaugural 2015 season. The presumption was that a roster containing David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo should produce a place in the postseason.

Alas, there were first-team players named Jeb Brovsky, Andres Mendoza, Josh Williams, Javier Calle, Sebastian Velasquez, Adam Nemec and Kwame Watson-Siriboe surrounding the DP group. While Villa met expectations and beyond, Lampard and Pirlo did not arrive until the summer and were mildly affective. High-priced and ballyhooed Mix Diskerud was inadequate. Chris Wingert and Ned Grabevoy brought leadership and experience, however, they wore down mentally and physically as the season progressed. The Georgetown University back four would have been a preferred line in front of goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who was negotiating mortar attacks in nearly every match.

The burden of expectation is now on Patrick Vieira and the optimism was soaring through preseason and after a road win against the Chicago Fire to open the regular year. Khiry Shelton and Tony Taylor were both healthy. Tommy McNamara and Diskerud were consistent attacking threats out of the midfield. Pirlo was leading the league in touches and passing accuracy. Costa Rican international Ronald Matarrita was playing like an All-Star at left back. The additions of Ethan White, Frederico Bravo, Steven Mendoza, Diego Martinez, Frederic Brillant and Mikey Lopez gave the appearance of a personnel upgrade in ’16.

However, since the 4-3 win at Chicago, New York City has gone winless in its next seven matches. The current record is 1-3-4 with seven points.

Through eight matches in 2015, NYCFC had six points with a 1-4-3 mark.

While there is little doubt that NYC is creating more strikes on goal than a year ago and there is superior quality throughout the roster, the defensive frailties at inopportune intervals is eerily similar.

White played the role of Watson-Siriboe with an extra time, defensive blunder of extraordinary proportions on Wednesday against Montreal. On a dead ball in the 91st minute, White positioned himself on the wrong side of Dominic Oduro and Didier Drogba hit a precise free kick to the head of Oduro, who was unoccupied at the front post. White had replaced the injured RJ Allen who had given City the 1-0 advantage with his first MLS goal. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

“We give a present to the other team,” remarked Villa, who has failed to score on 21 shots in his last two matches. “It was too easy — in that position, I always go to the first post.”

Villa was suggesting that the set piece’s intent should not have been a revelation.

“It is totally unacceptable that we are making mistakes on defense,” said Matarrita, whose silly foul on Lucas Ontivero afforded the late opportunity for the Impact, who had created little up until that point.

The presumption is that this second-year franchise will play in the postseason. Little else is acceptable. Which begs the question, are those expectations excessive?

Throw-Ins

— It’s time now to play a game I like to call, “Guess the Coach Quote.” The following post-match quotes are attributed to either Kreis in 2015 or Vieira in ’16 after the first eight matches of the season.

(0-1 correct answer — you think MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service; 2-3 correct — you are really just a Yankee fan; 4-5 correct — you know that Kreis did flips after scoring goals; 6-7 correct — you watch old clips of Vieira playing for Arsenal).

Answers contained at the end of the column.

1. “We were the much better team. We dictated the game. We had majority of the chances against one of the best teams in the league.”

2. “We deserved to win that game. I feel sorry for the players because they deserve more than what they are getting at the moment.”

3. “We are in a period where everything is going against us, but we are going to stick together and fight together and turn it around.”

4. “I’m very encouraged with the performance. We are moving in the right direction. I think we have the necessary qualities to be a very good team in this league, but for whatever reason I feel that we are getting quite unfortunate.”

5. “The only way to turn it around is to keep doing what we are doing. They deserve more points than they have at the moment. I think you will agree that we are not getting the luck like other teams are getting.”

6. “We are going to stick together and fight together and turn it around.”

7. “We need to look at the positives and build off the positives rather than look at the negatives.”

— On Saturday afternoon at the Stadium, New York City will host Vancouver, which is also coming off a 1-1 home stalemate, having done so at BC Palace against Sporting KC on Wednesday. Center back Kendall Waston will be absent after getting sent off with his second yellow card just five minutes into the second half of the mid-week match.

It will be just the second all-time meeting between the sides. City defeated the Whitecaps, 2-1 in British Columbia last September on goals from Lampard and Villa.

Vancouver has won just one of its last nine road matches, surrendering just under two goals per game. On the attacking side, the Whitecaps have scored multiple goals four times in their last 15 regular season MLS matches and just once on the road.

Vancouver leads MLS with three goals from corners and four from penalties. The Whitecaps have only scored two goals from the run of play, which is the fewest in the league.

— Leicester City needs two points in three matches to win its first top-tier English league title in 132 years — the entire life of the franchise.

At Old Trafford this Sunday, LCFC meets the team with 20 titles, the most of any English club — Manchester United. Leicester City, at 5,000-to-1 odds before the start of the season, can clinch the Premiership with a victory.

“This is a fantastic story,” said Vieira, who played eight seasons for Arsenal FC and won the EPL title in 2004. “It is a great story for all of soccer with a small club without all the resources. Great credit to the coach and the players.”

The Leicester City coach is Claudio Ranieri, who managed Chelsea in 2004. That season, Chelsea finished second in the league behind Vieira and Arsenal but eliminated the Gunners in the Champions League quarterfinals.

— Francesco Graziani, a 1982 World Cup champion with Italy, is friends with Ranieri. Graziani is at the Players Development Academy in New Jersey this month with the AS Roma Academy. In a fascinating discussion, he offered his thoughts about Ranieri.

“He is a really nice man, I am happy for him,” said Graziani, who scored the only goal against Cameroon to promote Italy to the knockout stage in ’82. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves Leicester after this season. What is the best they can do next season, fifth, sixth or seventh? Maybe?”

— Answers to the above quiz: 1. Kreis, 2. Vieira, 3. Kreis, 4. Kreis, 5. Vieira, 6. Vieira, 7. Kreis

Kick Off: US national teamer eyeing MLS | Batistuta's MLS coaching dream

Here are the top soccer stories everyone’s talking about this morning:

Honor Rolls

The New York Red Bulls were one of only two teams (Portland being the other) to put two players on the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week. Across town, NYCFC ace David Villa topped all performers in the MLS Fantasy Game this past week.

Around The Fire

Fire coach Veljko Paunovic is expecting top gun David Accam back by the end of the month. He also revealed that help is on the way for his injury-hit squad, with the club closing on a loan deal for midfielder Khaly Thiam.

Gio-Synchronous

Toronto FC star Sebastian Giovinco may have set two new club records, but local blog Waking The Red insists he needs some help driving their attack.

Red-Bullish

Recent Red Bulls addition Aurelien Collin says he'll fit in great with his new employers.

Celebrate Good Times?

In the latest edition of Discuss, four MLSsoccer.com editors debate whether players shouldcelebrate scoring against their former clubs.

Bati-Coach?

According to La Nacion, former Argentina star Gabriel Batistuta would jump at the chance to be a coach in MLS.

Maple Leaf Ambition

Canada forward Tesho Akindele believes that both the goal, and eventual qualification to the final round Hexagonal will come for the World Cup qualifying hopefuls.

US Roster Talk

Armchair Analyst Matt Doyle has offered up four changes he'd make to Jurgen Klinsmann's initial USMNT roster for Copa America. One player named, Hearts midfielder Perry Kitchen, could be facing a club vs. country dilemma with the Scottish club set for Europa League qualifying late in the summer.

Transfer Topic

D.C. United defender Steve Birnbaum has reportedly received at least one offer from Europe.

More Cup Involvement

The number of MLS players on provisional Copa America squads continues to grow with preliminary roster announcements from Costa Rica and Haiti.

Export Exploits

Dorados loan midfielder Joe Corona says he's open to an MLS move if he can't find his way back to parent club Tijuana. Meanwhile, US youth international John Requejo discussed his first Tijuana start on the weekend. Over in Norway, Molde FK netminder Ethan Horvath made some big stops in a shutout win over Aalesund FK.

Keller Talks Foxes

Former Leicester City man Kasey Keller did his best to put the club's first EPL title into context.

Back In The Day

If anyone feels like killing their work productivity with a trip through the time machine, the Seattle Sounders have posted an entire match against the San Jose Earthquakes from the 1974 NASL season.

Chip-Which?

Following Giovani dos Santos' sweet goal against Sporting KC, the #ThingsGioCanChip meme has gone viral on Twitter - even Galaxy teammate Make Magee has joined in the GIF fun.