With a rare prize in reach, TFC waits on Giovinco return

It’s taken 10 years but Toronto FC is finally within touching distance of its first home playoff game.

After the initial excitement of the club faded with season after season of poor results, Toronto is now rolling to new heights and hope to re-capture some of that lost excitement in the city.

“I don’t know what to expect. It’s never happened but I would think that it would be amazing,” said Jonathan Osorio, Toronto native and graduate of the TFC Academy. “It’s probably beyond whatever I would think so I really hope that it can happen and we’re in a good position to do so.”

Added head coach Greg Vanney: “To be able to fill the stadium with our fans in a game that is ultra-meaningful towards trying to win a championship and do something that the club has never done, the city has never seen, I look forward to that day.”

Toronto is awaiting the return of Sebastian Giovinco, recovering from a quad injury sustained Aug. 27 against Montreal. Vanney said they’ll know the morning of Saturday’s game against Philadelphia if he’ll play after Giovinco does a fitness test. But in Giovinco’s absence, Jozy Altidore has stepped forward to provide goals, and the club has won one game and drawn the other.

It should be a scary prospect for opposing teams with that tandem firing when Giovinco’s back. Vanney said on Wednesday that Giovinco could have given 20 minutes in last Sunday’s 3-3 draw with the New York Red Bulls. They want Giovinco back as soon as possible but don’t want to rush things.

“Getting Seba’s legs back under him down this tail stretch and reinforcing the relationship on the field is important,” said Vanney. “In theory, it’s going to be quite dangerous. It’s going to force them to have to make some decisions on how to attack and how to defend because they know the strength of our group on that other side.”

Toronto, currently in first in the MLS Eastern Conference, hosts the Union on Saturday in the first of three games in a week as the season comes down the stretch. Included in those games is a visit Wednesday from Orlando City SC and Canadian international Cyle Larin, recently named the league’s top player under 24 years of age.

FC Dallas leads the Supporters’ Shield race by five points but Toronto has a game in hand. The home-heavy schedule down the stretch also plays in Toronto’s favour.

“(Last season) we were just fighting to get a playoff spot whereas I think this year it’s a lot different,” Osorio told Yahoo Canada Sports after training on Thursday. “We’re fighting for one of the top spots and we have a chance at the Supporters’ Shield. Our fate is in our own hands with four games at home and one away.”

Montreal still in race, Vancouver all but done

The Montreal Impact is currently four points above both D.C. United and Orlando City SC, the two teams on the outside of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference, with five games remaining.

Montreal has just one home game remaining, however, coming against the San Jose Earthquakes, who are near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The remaining games are against teams still involved in the playoff race in the East.

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC, meanwhile, aren’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but are six points back of Sporting KC with time ebbing away.

“Until it’s mathematically impossible, we won’t be giving in,” head coach Carl Robinson said to the club’s web site as the Whitecaps, needing goals, go up against the league’s best defence in the Colorado Rapids on Saturday.

Vancouver is still alive in CONCACAF Champions League play and have the knockout rounds to look forward to but it’s do-or-die time for its MLS playoff hopes.

 Canada W17 names squad

Canada’s women’s under-17 team has been in Jordan for a few days preparing for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup but the squad was officially announced on Friday.

Head coach Bev Priestman has included Olympic bronze medallist Deanne Rose in the squad that looks to get past the quarterfinals for the first time.

Also in the squad is talented midfielder Sarah Stratigakis, who is one to watch over the coming years as she’ll also likely be included in Danny Worthington’s under-20 national team later this year for the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea.

Canada opens against Cameroon next Friday in Group B, a group that also includes Germany and Venezuela in the first women’s World Cup to ever be held in the Middle East.

Venezuela beat Canada 3-2 in the quarterfinals two years ago in Costa Rica.