As Giovinco's spell on sidelines lengthens, Toronto FC spins its wheels

Sebastian Giovinco’s absence was never more obvious as Toronto FC sputtered to a goalless draw with Orlando City SC on Wednesday night.

Shorn of MLS’ best player, Toronto lacked clinical finishing as it failed to make the most of its game in hand among the teams chasing it for top spot in the MLS Eastern Conference, against an Orlando team that has leaked goals of late.

It’s hardly a disaster as Toronto moved into first place in the conference standings, one point ahead of the two New York teams. But the third straight home draw has allowed other teams to close right up, leaving no margin for error in the final three regular season games. Toronto still has yet to seal up a home playoff date that comes guaranteed with a top-four finish in the conference, and they've managed but one goal in their past two matches.

“It’s tough to not have him in this stretch but it’s important to have him come playoff time,” said head coach Greg Vanney. “We are moving the ball well and solid defensively and hopefully we can get him this weekend and start to get the partnership of Jozy (Altidore) and Seba moving again.”

Giovinco’s recent quad injury has been a tough one to come back from with Vanney admitting prior to Wednesday’s game that the Italian was potentially available to put in 20 minutes against the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 18 but didn’t want to rush things and went to visit a doctor in Italy last weekend.

Vanney had assured that it was commonplace for players to consult doctors they were comfortable with, and Giovinco was back in training Tuesday at the team's Downsview headquarters, with the Toronto Sun’s Kurt Larson saying that the diminutive forward looked comfortable doing sprints at the start of training.

The opportunity to finish first overall and claim the MLS Supporters Shield has all but passed Toronto by but at the risk of squandering a home-heavy schedule down the stretch, there is a great deal up for grabs in the final games of the regular season.

“It’s important we approach these games with a good mentality and keep ourselves in first place and try to get out of that first knockout round game, try to stay out of that and get home-field advantage for as long as we can in the playoffs,” said Vanney.

For that to happen, Toronto will need its Atomic Ant to get back to full fitness in these final few games.

Larin hopes for stability in immediate post-Floro era

Cyle Larin was still a student at the University of Connecticut when Benito Floro handed him his first caps at the senior level for Canada.

Larin, now the league’s top young player under 24 years old, has come a long way from the time when he had to take a break from studying for an exam to give an interview prior to Canada’s 1-0 loss to Colombia at Red Bull Arena in October 2014.

Floro is the only national team coach Larin has had, but he knows what he hopes to see going forward with Michael Findlay taking over in the interim as the program searches for a new full-time coach.

“We need to keep doing the things we were doing in the last few camps and I think it was working,” Larin told Yahoo Canada Sports after his return home with Orlando City against Toronto FC.

“Unfortunately we didn’t get the results we wanted but you can see the changes and it was getting better for the younger players coming up and we need to keep using the young players with some of the older guys and you’ll make a good team.”

Larin said he wasn’t certain if he was going to be called into the pair of friendlies next month in Morocco against Mauritania and Morocco in Marrakech but with his team still in the midst of a playoff push, you’d have to imagine that he’ll take a pass on this camp and play in a November camp, which the CSA has said they’re hoping to schedule.

The Canadian squad will be announced before the end of the week.

Canadian U-20 player Millar signs with Liverpool

Atiba Hutchinson may be Canada’s highest-profile export but there are some up-and-coming talents that look to supplant Canada’s best player.

One such talent is Liam Millar who signed his first professional contract with Liverpool FC on Tuesday.

Just 17 years old, Millar has been playing with the Liverpool under-18 team since joining the team’s academy in May after playing in London with Fulham. He scored a hat trick on his debut with the u-18 squad and is in the pool for Rob Gale’s Canadian under-20 squad that will be in qualifying for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup next February in Costa Rica.

Although Millar has signed a contract it doesn’t mean he’ll be seen on televisions in Canada anytime soon. But it’s certainly an accomplishment to be the first Canadian to ever sign a deal with Liverpool, one of England’s superclubs that has made a good start to the season under Jürgen Klopp.