MLS – Serie A Cross Over: Pirlo debuts, Giovinco steals the show
By Rocco Fasano
The Italian Serie A and Major League Soccer. The association is not exactly intuitive. Serie A players, particularly Italian ones have looked across the Pond as a last destination, in the twilight of their careers.
The association is counterintuitive and surprisingly so considering that among MLS pioneers were decorated stars the likes of Roberto Donadoni and Giuseppe Galderisi who joined the North American top flight in its initial years.
This week saw Sebastian Giovinco take back the title of most impactful former Serie A player in Major League Soccer. The Atomic Ant out-performed the rest to confirm his spot atop former Serie A players who are currently plying their trade in Major League Soccer (MLS) by scoring a goal and recording an assist in the away match with rivals Columbus Crew.
Toronto FC was down three goals when Giovinco dragged the Reds back into it. At the 50th minute, Giovinco one-timed a cross by Collen Warner which started a formidable comeback by the Toronto outfit:
After scoring a hat trick in 9 minutes a few weeks back in New York, the pint-sized forward from Turin got back to work quickly to reduce the margin in Columbus. In fact, only five minutes after scoring TFC’s first goal, Giovinco returned the favour to Warner who made it 3-2:
Giovinco took a total of 8 shots, three of which on goal. Giovinco now has 13 goals in 19 appearances, garnished by 9 assists.
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Sunday’s super match between expansion sides NYC FC and Orlando City FC saw two former giants of Serie A (and former team mates at Milan) face off. We’re talking about Andrea Pirlo and Ricardo Kakà. The Italian debuted, coming on at the 33rd minute and making his presence felt in midfield. The maestro masterfully orchestrated game play in front of NYC FC’s defence and provided deep passes that led to two goals for his side but did not collect an assist. Brazilian and ex-Milan attacking midfielder Ricardo Kakà continues his seesaw performances in the MLS, putting up a good performance this week after a few that were left wanting. Kakà had a few attempts at goal, and wasn’t very impactful in a game that saw his side lose 5-3, but he did provide an assist late in the game to Cyle Larin that helped the Canadian youngster complete his hattrick.
Another top performer this week was former Fiorentina and Parma man Marco Donadel whose performances have definitely been akin to his pedigree as of late. Another generous performance by the midfielder who provided the assist to Laurent Ciman at two minutes from time to give his Montreal Impact the sole and winning goal:
His performance against the Seattle Sounders saw Donadel collect his third assist in his first season in the MLS.
Former Siena and Livorno man Innocent Emeghara and former Inter forward Obafemi Martins were sidelined by injury and missed their respective matches; while former Roma midfielder Michael Bradley was away on international duty.