ORLANDO – As if they don’t already have enough motivation for their third game with Toronto FC this season, Orlando City SC now have some serious bulletin-board material thanks to Sebastian Giovinco.
The Lions have already fallen, hard, to the Reds twice this season – 2-0 at home and 4-1 on the road as recently as Aug. 5 – but Orlando have already worked the "third time is a charm" oracle twice this season, with victories in their third meetings against both D.C. United and Columbus Crew SC.
Orlando are also fighting for their playoff lives after a recent run of just one win in eight games, and the coaching staff was quick to seize upon any extra incentive to give their players an edge for Saturday’s return trip to Canada (4 pm ET, TSN).
So Giovinco’s message on the Reds’ official Twitter feed was just the thing.
The little jab was not lost on City’s assistant coach Mark Watson after training on Wednesday.
“Oh, we might just need to highlight that for the lads to see," said Watson. "We always like to see things that might give the team a bit of extra motivation.”
With Orlando having somewhat lost their way in recent weeks, it certainly adds an extra personal dimension to the clash between two teams separated by just three points in the Eastern Conference standings.
Giovinco was kept off the scoresheet in the first meeting at the Citrus Bowl in April, when Jozy Altidore scored twice, but he more than made up for it with an expertly-taken treble, including a penalty and free-kick, 16 days ago.
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There was no stopping the Atomic Ant that day, but a Lions' defense that has been badly victimized in recent weeks now has every incentive to stop the rot on Saturday.
“Yes, one or two players have noticed that, and we have also made people aware of his comments,” head coach Adrian Heath confirmed following Thursday’s training session. “As a player, you often read up on the opposition the week of a game, and this definitely falls into that category.”
However, Heath is realistic enough to admit his team will need more than a strong desire to avenge its last meeting with Toronto to keep its postseason hopes alive.
“In all fairness to Gio, the way we played against them last time, I would be looking forward to it if I was him," said Heath. "He had an exceptional performance against us last time, no arguments. But I think we will be a lot better than last time.
"We have put last week’s performance [in a 4-0 loss to vs. Seattle] behind us and we are really hopeful that we will get a good reaction from the group on Saturday. We have had a good week’s training and there is still a lot of collective good spirit in this team. Despite recent results, we know we’re not out of it yet and we are still capable of putting two or three wins together on the bounce.”
