Preki?

[dove]

Is this fella still going?

I remember reading in the papers a while back that he was dazziling the mls with his tricky skills(!) and he was player of the year or something?

Surely not?he must be about 45 now would'nt he,he was hardly a spring chicken when he came to us.Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the MLS is it,is the league that bad?

I can still remember the outburst of unbridled joy all evertonians felt when we awoke one morning to read that howard kendell had swooped for the jinxing croat(or serb/yugoslavian?) from the cut and thrust of the north american indoor soccer league.
wow! One to wet the appetite then?

To be fair to him,he had his moments.I recall him scoring a screamer down at the park end against QPR once,just a shame we'd already conceded 5 at the other end.

Kinda sums it all up really.

[sarabella]

Surely not?he must be about 45 now would'nt he,he was hardly a spring chicken when he came to us.Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the MLS is it,is the league that bad?

Bigsoccer is not the most friendly of places when it comes to MLS-bashing. I've been called a Eurosnob more than once. But oh well. It's not that I hate MLS, but Everton was my first love and I will always watch more Premiership football (and call it football and not soccer) than I will American.

That being said, Preki... there was an article on soccer365 from July that states he broke his leg.

http://www.soccer365.com/_365_Interviews/page_123_76596.shtml

[Tony Dellbird]

Let's have a go at spelling his name...isn't it....Predrag Radosavjevic or something along those lines? Also what ever happened to Robert Warzycha?

[RevsGuy06]

Preki, at the ripe old age of 41, is attempting a comeback from a series of serious injuries this past year, after winning player of the year (MVP) in 1997 and 2003 and winning the scoring championship (not golden boot, but overall top point-getter - goals and assists combined) in both those years.

Robert Warzycha played with Columbus Crew from 1996-2002 and retired to take a position within the club.

[worldfootballgenius]

Surely not?he must be about 45 now would'nt he,he was hardly a spring chicken when he came to us.Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the MLS is it,is the league that bad?


Tough enough for steve howey.

[AndyMead]

To further clarify, Preki did win MLS's MVP award for the 2003 season (the year he turned 40). Which is amazing, but not unprecedented. Lothar Matheus was the Bundesliga player of the year at age 39 in 1999-2000.

Preki broke his ankle last February. He came back last August, and played limited minutes in a series of league and cup games. He came on at halftime of the US Open Cup semifinal vs San Jose Earthquakes, and he showed all the old magic before being subbed out close to the end of the game.

Shortly afterwards he decided to have a season-ending operation on his ankle as he complained that it "felt loose".

As of right now, it appears that he intends to play in 2005.

http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/2004/0824_kc_sj_ajm/web_ajm_6742.jpg
----
Warzycha is the Crew's assistant coach.
http://www.ibiblio.org/footy/2004/0417_kc_clb_wj/CLB_KC_071.jpg

[Tony Dellbird]

You can't compare Preki with Lothar Matthaus, we're not questioning the age really, just the talent of the individual, he played for us and Portsmouth and maybe a few more in England and wasn't really that special, so to go to the US and be player of the year was a surprise.

[Treetaliano]

You can't compare Preki with Lothar Matthaus, we're not questioning the age really, just the talent of the individual, he played for us and Portsmouth and maybe a few more in England and wasn't really that special, so to go to the US and be player of the year was a surprise.
so a guy can't improve as he gets older? :confused:

[Tony Dellbird]

A player's prime is 28, not 38. It's a fact.

[Metrophenomenal]

mvp is not the same as being the best player. its being the most important player to your team. not the best player in the league.
him winning says more about his insanely impressive physical conditioning than anything about the league.
MLS often gets aging players that used to be good in other leagues, they come over thinking the league sucks, don't train hard enough, then get crushed.
Preki may have gotten older but because he took such good care of himself he simply hadnt lost anything.

[Clint Eastwood]

You'd have to say the one position in MLS where an aging player can have real success is in the creative attacking central midfield role. Very few Americans have developed into world class players in that part of the pitch. Players such as Carlos Valderrama, Marco Etcheverrey, Preki, Mauricio Cienfuegos (El Salvador captain), Amado Guevara (Honduras captain), and others have had success here at older ages. This past season Andreas Herzog came in and made an impact on the LA Galaxy for about half the season (he never seemed involved after an inexplicable mid-season coaching change).

We do have some young players on the way up. Landon Donovan is probably the most well-known of the bunch, and he's shown to be effective in this role. We'll see how he does at Leverkusen, and the position they play him in will be interesting. Kyle Martino of the Columbus Crew, Ned Grabavoy of the LA Galaxy, Eddie Gaven of the Metrostars, and others are improving. Right now we lack players like Preki who can make that final creative pass to the forwards.

My gut feeling tells me Preki is done.

[EvertonChris]

Wasnt Preki like the first Everton player to have been subbed on and then subbed off later due to his shiteness :D :D

[dove]

Well im not having a go at the mls because apart from a few ropey goalkeepers,the ex-everton lads,alexi lalais's beard and freddy adu on championship manager I know bugger all about us soccer.

But it is a bit questionable that someone who was at best average in the epl can actually turn up 10 years later in the mls and be the best player there,even when he's practically a pensioner!

Loved the comparison with lothar mattheus though. :D