Toronto FC goalkeeeper Greg Sutton is back on track after missing most of last season with concussion problems. (Canadian Press)
Soccer: John F. Molinaro
Greg Sutton: Standing tall once again
Last Updated Friday, April 24, 2008
by John F. Molinaro, CBC Sports
For the first time in a long time, Greg Sutton is pain-free when he wakes up every morning.
And that's good news not only for the Hamilton-born goalkeeper, but also for Toronto FC as it attempts to improve on a dismal inaugural Major League Soccer campaign.
Sutton, 31, came to Toronto in 2007 after five successful seasons with the Montreal Impact of the United Soccer League, one level below MLS. Toronto thought that the six-foot-six Sutton, expected to provide security and stability at the back for the expansion club, would rise to the challenge of playing in a tougher league and quickly emerge as one of the top shot-stoppers in MLS.
It didn't quite work out that way: Sutton suffered a concussion during a training session with the Canadian national team in June and missed the rest of the MLS season, as Toronto stumbled to a pathetic 6-17-7 record.
'My head is back to normal'
After consulting with doctors and taking it easy in the off-season, Sutton said he is back to his old self again, and that he is completely over the concussion problems that sidetracked his first season with Toronto.
"My head is back to normal," Sutton told CBCSports.ca. "The problems are gone. It's something I don't even think about anymore. I feel good, I feel better than I did at this point in this season last year."
Although he's fine now, Sutton admits that the pain was so bad that there were times when he thought he might never be able to play again.
"For about two months, every day when I woke up with a burning headache I thought about that," Sutton said.
"It was bad. July and August was probably the worst months I've had in a long time. Honestly, I was disappointed in the fact that I didn't know what was going to happen or what kind of diagnosis the doctors were going to give me, and the fact that they said it's going to get better, but we just don’t know when."
The physical pain was only half of the story. Sutton is a proud athlete who loves to be in the thick of the action on the field, so having to watch from the sidelines as his team played on without him left him with psychological scars.
"Last year was tough, watching the team from the stands and having people come up to me and ask me how I was feeling and when I would be coming back," Sutton explained.
"If I had a tape recorder, I would have pressed play every time and just gave the same answer. It was something that really put things in perspective for me, as well. It was a test of my character and I've grown from it, so in a sense I think it's helped me.
Started the season on the bench
Sutton was dealt another psychological blow when new Toronto coach John Carver started rookie goalkeeper Brian Edwards in net for the team's season opener, a 2-0 loss on the road to the Columbus Crew on March 29.
Before the game, Carver explained to Sutton his decision to go with Edwards, saying he thought the rookie had a better pre-season and that he felt Sutton still had some work to do to improve.
Although disappointed, Sutton didn't sulk. He saw it as an opportunity to prove his level of commitment to his new coach.
"Obviously, I was disappointed that I wasn't able to start that game, but I understood the coach's decision and as a professional I had to respect that. It gave me an incentive to continue to work hard like I was doing, and I knew that if I did that, my chance to start would come."
Indeed, it came in Toronto's very next game as the Canadian club dropped a 4-1 decision to D.C. United, a misleading result because if not for the efforts of Sutton, who made a handful of brilliant saves, the score could have easily been 8-1.
Toronto rebounded with a 3-2 victory in Los Angeles — Sutton, again, made several highlight reel saves to keep Toronto in a game that the Galaxy dominated — and the veteran shot stopper followed that up by earning his first shutout of the season with a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake last Saturday.
After three solid performances, Sutton has firmly re-established himself as the club's No. 1 goalkeeper, but Carver warned that isn't set in stone.
"At the moment he is our starter, but Brian is working hard," Carver said. "He's working hard every day, and if something happens to Sutton or he has a dip in form .… I've said it from day one: I don't care who you are, if you're not performing, they're not going to play."
It's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but then rising to a difficult challenge is nothing new for Greg Sutton.
John F. Molinaro is a reporter for CBCSports.ca whose chief love is international soccer. Contact John here.
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