OK, MLS, we get it. You are happy that among the high-priced flop imports that treat your league as a retirement home, there is one shining light among them. That would be Sebastian Giovinco, under the age of 30(!), and the reigning league MVP.
And we understand that certain national teams have more cache than others, which is why the league seemingly doesn't care that the No. 2 team in the world has called up Laurent Ciman of the Impact. Belgium isn't one of those teams but Italy - winners of four World Cups - certainly is even if the Azzurri aren't favoured to do as well as the much-fancied Belgians at Euro 2016.
But yes, it had to hurt that a player like Giovinco who tore up MLS was not selected to play for Italy at the Euros. But seriously, how many moronic thinkpieces do we need to read about this? Simon Borg of the MLS site particularly disgraced himself on the matter.
These MLS lovers clearly cannot read. Let's look at Italy boss Antonio Conte's comments more closely about omitting Andrea Pirlo and Giovinco.
"I spoke to Andrea, I needed to hear from him and we sent people to the U.S. However, we've made other choices and you have to accept them and deal with the consequences. Nothing was left to chance.
"We evaluated him and Giovinco, it's normal that if you choose to go and play there then you can pay the consequences in footballing terms.
"We evaluated them technically, we didn't leave anything to chance. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong, we went everywhere to have clear and precise ideas."
Everyone is focused on the middle part of the statement rather than the statement as a whole. Conte is not simply saying that they paid the price by going to MLS, he's also saying that the Italians evaluated the situation thoroughly and went in another direction. Why would anyone not believe him?
For all the talk about how Eder is in a slump and that Zaza and Immobile are losers, it's still not clear why Giovinco should be a lock for the squad. Do you realize he has scored only once for the Azzurri? This blogger should know since I was there for that lone moment of Giovinco 'magic.' It was a tap-in that anyone could convert, but that's not the point.
What these MLS idiots don't understand is that Conte also omitted the top Italian goal scorer in Serie A - Leonardo Pavoletti of Genoa. Pavoletti scored 14 - one more than Massimo Maccarone of Empoli - also not good enough to make the cut. See how easy it is to play this game about who is doing what in what league and whether he should be on the team? Where's the MLS outrage over Pavoletti and Maccarone? That's right, there isn't any.
Leave it to James Horncastle to explain how things went down. Conte's assistant, Marco Scampa, came to North America to watch Giovinco and Pirlo play. That, more than anything, is a major sign of respect and should be seen as much for an Italian coach to watch MLS. Now if said coach believed that MLS wasn't a true indicator of how a player would fare at the highest level, he isn't the only Italian to believe so, as previously reported by IMOTGP.
The bottom line is that Giovinco maybe could have been on the Italian team but would not have had a major role. Any other insinuation from thin-skinned MLS types is pure folly - and they should stick to producing Frank Lampard highlight tapes for the fans instead!
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