Soccer conversations in Toronto
by Steve Davis on Nov 20, 2010 1:02 PM EST
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TORONTO – Soccer conversations with cabbies are usually a little thin. Languages can often pose barriers. But you can usually get that thing going where one of you says a famous player’s name and the other responds, “Ah, yes, a very good player!” But it pretty much falls apart from there.
Well, I just had a cab ride over from my hotel to BMO Field – where the teams are holding their final practices today – that tells you everything you need to know about Toronto and why it’s such a picture-perfect market for MLS.
My man Abe didn’t just know his soccer. He knew the hell out of MLS soccer. Going all the way back to the league’s spindly roots in 1996.
He had very intelligent things to say about TFC and why things went wrong with Preki. (He LOVED Preki back in his Everton days, and back when he was flummoxing defenders at K.C. with that signature cut-back move, but he was way down on the man as a manager.)
Abe spoke articulately about how much the quality of the league has improved over the years. (He lived in New York previously, so he was in on things from the start, even though Toronto didn’t come aboard for years to come.)
I asked if he would be at the game Sunday night and I thought he was about to throw me out of his cab. “Of course I’ll be there!”
I think there are quite a few “Abes” out there. And that, in a nutshell, is why the soccer scene teems here in Toronto.
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So what did Abe have to say about Preki?
The cut-back!
He loved the Preki’s cut-back as a player. As a coach, he just thought Preki was too much of a hard-ass who ran off good players, like Sam Cronin and Marvell Wynne, rather than try to work with them and find ways to make them fit within his system. He thought the players weren’t blameless, but thought Preki needed a bit more compromise in his MO.
by Steve Davis on Nov 21, 2010 10:53 AM EST up reply actions
