Onward! - Preki: first impressions

Hey, folks! Onward! is down today, so I'm posting here instead.

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He’s got some rascal in him, this one.

Thursday’s BMO Field presser announcing details of the 2010 Voyageurs Cup tournament was the first chance I’ve had to study Toronto FC’s new coach eyeball-to-eyeball.

Preki – new to the whole thing, lurching back and forth between loosey-goosey and tentative – put on an intriguing show.

While his fellow coaches (Marc Dos Santos of the Montreal Impact, Teitur Thordarson of the Vancouver Whitecaps) sat obediently and somewhat nervously behind their respective microphones, Preki lounged/sprawled way back in his chair, making occasional whispered jokes, clearly enjoying himself.

Asked to speak of the Canadian competition’s importance, he shrugged off his total inexperience with the tournament, noting he has already seen that the V-Cup generates far more excitement in Canada than its American counterpart – the U.S. Open Cup – does Stateside.

He was prepared for that one. The intriguing part, for me, was watching this sharp, calculating, Mercurial man when caught a little bit off-guard.

Comes a good question (Lee Godfrey, GOL-TV) about the relative importance of league and V-Cup matches. Thordarson fields it, saying the Voyageurs Cup is very important to the Whitecaps, and that his team is looking forward to giving its all in what he expects will be some entertaining, high-quality matches.

Preki, deeply reclined, suddenly realizes everyone is looking at him. He straightens, wondering aloud if he was supposed to answer the question too. No one says “no.” Now he’s improvising. And, interestingly, he tells the truth.

The TFC coach rambles on for a good minute or more, stating beyond any doubt that MLS matches are far more important. His main goal is to win in the league, therefore league games have to take priority. Perhaps sensing the cup-happy room has suddenly gone a bit quiet, Preki adds a slightly awkward tag line that cup matches are great, too.

I’ve seen lots of coaches get caught off-guard in many different ways. Some get flustered; some go all quiet. Some crank up the used-car-salesman routine, deflecting the question to offer you power wiper blades on the way by.

Preki, there to bolster the cup, emphatically thudded on about the Canadian competition’s relative unimportance.

This opens an intriguing possibility. There may be real profit for the TFC journo crowd in asking Preki vague questions. It seems as though, when he’s not completely clear on what he’s been asked, he answers all the possibilities at once – straight from the heart, gut and truth.

Hmm.

Whatever strategic shortcomings former TFC bench bosses John Carver and Chris Cummings possessed, they were blessedly frank and straight-forward talkers. Preki is clearly a man of many layers, and it won’t be nearly so easy now to deduce the spot-on from the spin.

The trick may be – and I’ll let you know how it goes – to concoct a sufficiently vague question.

This is going to be fun, folks.

Onward!

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Preki is just what the team needed. I think he is going to weed out the bad players and give the team the structure it needs to play defense and when needed play with possession. He seems to expect honest team work. Not selfish play.

The cup really isnt the most important part, winning the League is. Thats the reason for the summer grind, not the VCup and its nice to hear honesty.

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Originally Posted by J .

Preki is just what the team needed. I think he is going to weed out the bad players and give the team the structure it needs to play defense and when needed play with possession. He seems to expect honest team work. Not selfish play.

The cup really isnt the most important part, winning the League is. Thats the reason for the summer grind, not the VCup and its nice to hear honesty.

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League means nothing to me at least.
Sure it'd be nice to have an extra trophy, but for me it's the MLS Cup and CL.

I'd rather win the CL and not the MLS Cup.

Preki knows talk is cheap.

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Originally Posted by Ben Knight

Whatever strategic shortcomings former TFC bench bosses John Carver and Chris Cummings possessed, they were blessedly frank and straight-forward talkers. Preki is clearly a man of many layers, and it won’t be nearly so easy now to deduce the spot-on from the spin.

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:lol:

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Originally Posted by Damien

Preki knows talk is cheap.

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This.

It's very evident, whenever he speaks.

Although, I would rather us win the Supporter's Shield and the V-Cup (if we're only to choose two of the three).. but there's no reason we can't be greedy, demanding all three (for each of the three dismal years we've had to endure). ;)

Tschuess.

I believe the V-Cup should be one of the club's top priority, so it is a bit disheartening to hear his off-the-cuff remarks regarding the competition. I don't want this thread to degenerate into a debate over which competitions are most important, but Preki even said that our domestic pro tourney has a larger following here than in the states, and that in itself should be enough for some careful consideration.

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Originally Posted by Cashcleaner

I believe the V-Cup should be one of the club's top priority.

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Disagree. We should set a standard that both are winnable, rather than dismissing one or the other from the off.

Unless something has changed, arent we guaranteed the CCL qualifying spot seeing as Vancouver and Montreal arent playing in a CONCACAF recognized league?

If thats still the case, as much as I love the tourney, then the Voyagers Cup shouldnt be treated as much more than a tune-up for the squad and a chance for a rest for some guys.

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Originally Posted by ilikemusic

Unless something has changed, arent we guaranteed the CCL qualifying spot seeing as Vancouver and Montreal arent playing in a CONCACAF recognized league?.

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Van Shitty and the Limp Act are playing in a CONCACAF recognized league. Indeed, they are playing in USSF sanctioned Division 2.

Its clear that getting into playoffs is his number 1 priority, it is what will gaurantee his job security. Unfortunately Canada Cup is not see as important. Personally I would much rather we went far in the CONCACAF CL then win MLS. Playoffs should be a must though

I'd like to do something in the league first. We've done jack shit in our own fricken league for 3 seasons. CL is great but how about making a name in the actual league that pays the bills? So I can understand Preki's concern for the league.

Also, MLS isn't a league where you can do well in every tournament. Doing well in one usually means doing less well in another. The depth isn't there. Only a few teams do well in all competitions.
I cannot accept failing to make the playoffs again but succeeding in other competitions. At some point soon we need to see league wins -- our season tickets pay for those games.

Why is everyone so focused on making the playoffs, instead of making the playoffs and winning the MLS cup?

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Originally Posted by rocker

I'd like to do something in the league first. We've done jack shit in our own fricken league for 3 seasons. CL is great but how about making a name in the actual league that pays the bills? So I can understand Preki's concern for the league.

Also, MLS isn't a league where you can do well in every tournament. Doing well in one usually means doing less well in another. The depth isn't there. Only a few teams do well in all competitions.
I cannot accept failing to make the playoffs again but succeeding in other competitions. At some point soon we need to see league wins -- our season tickets pay for those games.

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Maybe I'm wrong here but don't he teams and players get some prize$$ from the CCL? well the teams thAt make it far.
Although in theory only he 1st 2 rounds really interfere
with he cl I think...