Former Juventus striker Sebastian Giovinco turned out to be one of the stars of the MLS weekend after scoring a hat-trick in the recent 4-4 draw against New York City.
Toronto were looking to close the gap on second placed New York Red Bulls, but they failed to do so after earning only a point from this game. Still, it felt like a major victory for Toronto, but home supporters of New York City were extremely disappointed to see their team drop two more points. The team has now managed only one win in the last five matches and this is threatening to disrupt the aspirations for the season.
Summer signing David Villa once again proved his capabilities by scoring two goals, but he was outshined by another European import. Villa had given the lead for New York City after just 17 minutes, which was then doubled following the own goal byPerquis. However, the home team were unable to maintain this impressive advantage for long. A brilliant hat-trick fromGiovinco – with one of the goals coming from a penalty – set them on the path towards a victory. However, Mullins’ equaliser with six minutes of normal time remaining levelled things up once again.
“We’re creating attacking chances, creating goal-scoring chances and taking goals, but for whatever reason seems to be a moment every game we just stop. I think a lot of guys hung their heads at that moment and said, ‘Here we go again.’ That’s not a good enough reaction, and we’ve got to continue to strive to improve because we need to be able to put 90 minutes together. One of the things that you need to have to be successful in this league is consistency in the back four, and that is a big reason for our inconsistencies,” said New York City manager Jason Kries.