Toronto FC coach has to watch young sons go into quarantine from a distance

Forced to play games south of the border due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney has had to watch from a distance as his family back home went into lockdown.

Vanney’s 12-year-old twin boys are finishing off quarantining at home after “a situation at their school.”

“The good news is they’re fine,” Vanney said Friday from the MLS team’s base in East Hartford. “The good news for my wife (Amy) is she didn’t have to drive them to school and to soccer practice and everything every day. So she wasn’t in the car quite as much as she would normally be. She wasn’t quite as busy.

“Everyone else is fine.”

The Vanneys also have a 16-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.

Vanney and his team are returning home for a brief visit after this weekend’s game against Atlanta in East Hartford. They will follow the same procedure they did last month, chartering home Sunday night and returning Wednesday.

While in Toronto, they will be in quarantine at their respective homes. A few players without family in Toronto will likely stay in Connecticut.

Vanney said since he and his wife have been together for more than 20 years, she is used to his soccer-related absences. 

“She’s got the house locked down. She has everybody doing their thing … She knows what she has to do and she’s incredible at it,” he said of the home front. “I have full comfort and faith in everything that’s going on there with them. 

“And the boys have been diligent and smart. And so has my daughter. All of them, through this whole pandemic stuff, they get it. They understand the importance of it, they understand how to stay safe and the importance of staying safe and keeping their distance and wearing a mask. They’re never trying to cheat the system.

“So I trust them and know that they are doing all the right things. And because of that I have comfort in knowing they’re going to all right.” 

But he acknowledged there will be a debt to pay at home when it comes to his wife.

“I will have to be extra nice” he said. “When this whole thing is done, when the season is done, I will have to be really nice … I’ve got some payback, I think.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2020

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press