Giovinco: 'Juventus winning mentality'

By Football Italia staff

Sebastian Giovinco reveals how he became a football player, learned a winning mentality at Juventus and his dreams for Toronto FC.

The Atomic Ant wrote a lengthy piece in The Players Tribune about his life and career, so you can read the full essay here.

“I started out as a midfielder, I liked giving assists. But then I realized that the only thing I like better than assisting on a goal, was scoring one myself. To me, goals were most important. It’s how you win.

“We didn’t have much. We lived only 15 miles from Stadio delle Alpi, but never got tickets to go watch Juventus. We definitely couldn’t afford to buy any kits. I remember my father, who was an ironworker, had to save up for a whole year to buy me my first boots. Kits, boots, whatever, I didn’t care. Being on the field was the only thing that mattered.

“When I was probably about 15 or 16 I wasn’t getting any playing time. And on most of the rides home, I’d just sit in his car and cry.

One day, he stopped the car. ‘Seba,’ he said, ‘I’m not going to bring you back tomorrow.’ I looked back at him, wiping my tears, ‘Why!?’ ‘Because I’m not taking you here to just cry.’ I thought for a moment. O.K. I’m not going to cry. I’m just going to work hard. And win.

“Which, honestly, was all that was expected at the club. No tears. No nothing. There’s this mentality at Juventus. It’s pretty simple… Win.

“They teach you respect, and to win with respect. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to one thing. Winning. That mindset was instilled in me from the time I first arrived at Juve. Just win.”

Giovinco first broke into the Juventus first team in Serie B in May 2007, the year after the Calciopoli scandal, at the age of 20.

“I remember the first time I stepped onto the pitch at the stadium. It wasn’t anything like the dirt pitch back home. I was playing next to Alessandro Del Piero, I was assisting David Trezeguet.

“I was proud that we worked our way back into Serie A that first season. I don’t think I would’ve gotten the opportunity to play as much if we hadn’t been in Serie B. But promotion wasn’t something that was spoken about a lot in the changing room — or that the younger players had been part of getting Juventus back up top.

“Like I said, there’s only one thing that matters at Juventus. And it doesn’t matter how it gets done. And for me, like always, all that mattered was that I was on the pitch.

“But after a few years, I knew getting more time on the pitch with Juve wasn’t going to happen. I went on a couple of loans and with my contract at Juve coming to an end, I started thinking about moving to MLS.

“Toronto had been the club to reach out to me and the conversation went pretty fast. So from there, there was only one team I considered: Toronto FC. Within two or three days we had an agreement. I’d be coming to play for Toronto.

“In 2015, my first season here, we made the postseason for the first time in team history. But I think we got ahead of ourselves after that. After we clinched our playoff spot, we celebrated little too much. We lost our last two league games. And then we were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs to Montreal.

“See, there’s this other part of the mindset at Juventus that I think we needed to learn at Toronto. You win today, you stop celebrating today and you move forward.

“Call our season a comeback story, a redemption story, whatever you want. We’ve been at the top of the table all year. But we’re not satisfied.

“And after each win, we stop celebrating and we move on. And we won’t stop until we see it: A championship in Toronto.”

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