Ryan Johnston

Follow TFC and the Champions League with Twitter. I will update from training, on match day and whenever news breaks.

Preki. That's it; one name. Thankfully in the game of soccer those born with the unpronounceable and multiple surnames are usually forced to mono-ize it, and generally go on to great things: Pele, Ronaldo, Kaka, etc.

(The one exception is the rare double same name; for example, Eric Djemba-Djemba or Jay-Jay Okocha.)

Anyhow, Toronto FC's fourth coach in three seasons is not Brazilian, but rather a Yugoslavian-born American who as a player and a coach carries a resume worthy enough to be read alongside the also-one-named coach to currently resides over the 2010-bound Samba Kings.

Predrag "Preki" Radosavljevic played in the premiership, appeared in a World Cup, won a pair of MLS MVP awards (1997, 2003) and added a coach of the year nod in his first go at the trade with Chivas USA.

Meaning that before the 46-year-old even steps foot inside the red doors at BMO Field he has an advantage that his two most recent predecessors never enjoyed, and that is equality. It is an admirable move by Director of Soccer Mo Johnston to bring in a man who challenges the personal success hierarchy within Toronto FC. It would now seem that any future clash of egos at the club will be longer than the one round fights we are accustomed to seeing.

Sure Preki is lauded as a great tactical coach, but his success at the club will be measured by whether or he is able to run this club as an equal to MoJo and not the seemingly subservient yet hard-headed which came before.

Le Hand of God

What a cruel fate suffered by Ireland in the second-leg of its World Cup playoff against France. Thierry Henry handled the ball (twice) to keep it in play before setting up William Gallas with an easy tap-in.

I have rarely supported the use of replay in the game, but what transpired in Paris might be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.