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Sandy • Jeff Cassar sees similarities between Toronto FC's sizable offseason splash and Real Salt Lake's aging, dynamic playmaker. Luckily for Cassar, he'll have his captain, holding midfield spy Kyle Beckerman, to try and quell opportunities created by Italian star Sebastian Giovinco Sunday evening in Sandy. TFC won't have the same luxury to game plan for 35-year-old Javier Morales as Michael Bradley is in Europe for upcoming friendlies for the U.S. men's national team.

Regardless, TFC's second-consecutive massive offseason spending spree produced U.S. striker Jozy Altidore (also off on national-team duty) and Giovinco, the 5-foot-5 attacking midfielder who spent the last decade in Serie A, primarily with Italian club magnate Juventus. He came to Toronto in a surprise move that will pay him roughly $7 million a year.

"He's intelligent. His movement's fantastic. He shows up in a lot of different areas of the field and if you leave gaps open, he'll find [the ball], get it and turn and go at you, so we have to be extremely mindful of him," Cassar said. "If we're good with the ball, we'll nullify anything we can do with it."

Comparing Giovinco and Morales, Cassar said, "They've got great soccer minds, they kind of slow down a little bit and then they speed up right at the right times, so we have to know where he's at, for sure."

Morales looked back on RSL's home-opening 3-3 draw with Philadelphia when voicing concern of facing a player the quality of Giovinco, whom he called "a special guy."

"Like I've said before, we have to start to find the balance," he said. "Especially with guys like Giovinco. They're going to stay high. If he gets to those second balls, it's going to be tough for us, especially on the counter-attack."

Right back Tony Beltran echoed Cassar's comparison, but said Toronto FC — who is playing its first eight games away from BMO Field while the stadium undergoes major upgrades — may not be able to play as attacking as it wants again on the road and minus two star players.

"His role his going to change form this team to his last team, so we'll most likely scout his previous two games with Toronto," Beltran said. "Everything changes too when you play at Rio Tinto, too, because a lot of times teams sit back, so he might find himself in different space than he's used to."

Updates on TFC's side come from John Molinaro, TFC beat writer for Sportsnet.

Molinaro reported Tuesday that defenders Stephen Caldwell (Achilles), Damien Perquis (calf), Mark Bloom (quad) and Eriq Zavaleta (ankle) are questionable for Sunday's tilt at Rio Tinto.

-Chris Kamrani

Twitter: @chriskamrani