Francis “Duckey” Glindro deflected the credit to the team’s unsung hero, assistant coach Vrendon “Vren” Pesebre, shortly after AP Bren punched its ticket to the M5 World Championship on Friday night.
The team, which had come off back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the last two seasons, finally broke through and qualified for the finals after defeating the red-hot Blacklist International via a 3-0 sweep in the upper bracket finale of the MPL Philippines Season 12 playoffs at the EVM Convention Center.
“Sobrang importante ni Vren, ito nga, kaya nga lagi gusto ko sana na yung spotlight is nasa kanya kaso masyado siyang mahiyain. Ayun oh, nasa likod,” said the world champion coach during the post-match press conference.
Vren is the one responsible for the team’s strategies and drafts, working as AP Bren’s technical coach for the past two seasons.
With the former TNC coach on board, AP Bren burst onto the international scene, winning the gold medal in the recent Southeast Asian Games while also claiming the world title in the IESF World Championship.
“So in terms of preparation, sobrang mahirap siya i-explain eh pero I would say in just one word, yung tactical (approach) niya, is really something that I’ve never seen in other coaches, so I’m really lucky to have Vren on my team and I think the boys sobrang saya nila kapag ka may mga discussions (with Vren),” said Duckey.
“Kasi ano siya eh, direct to the point. Very concise. Walang beating around the bush. Kung gusto niyang sabihin yung isang bagay, sasabihin niya no holds barred. No BS. Yun yung gusto nila (players), gusto nilang hindi sila parang pinapahirapan yung sarili nila and yun, so maraming maraming salamat Vren kung nasan ka ‘man ngayon. Sana masaya ka diyan,” he continued.
(C) MPL PH
Duckey revealed that he had been eyeing Vren ever since his stint with TNC in Season 9, but when the latter finally became available, the ex-Cerebrum Pro coach had already signed with Bigetron Alpha in MPL Indonesia.
When Vren’s stint with the Indonesian squad finally came to an end, Duckey shared that he immediately contacted the soft-spoken tactician to be part of his coaching staff.
“Kasi when I started looking for coaches, ang pinapahanap or normal na parang grounds back then was looking for analysts. Ako, sabi ko, I’m gonna look for a tactician, tactical and technical coach,” said Duckey.
“Sabi ko, I have good ano naman sa mga players in terms of disiplina, direksyon kung anong gusto naming tahakin. Naiintindihan ko naman yung mga bata. Now, I need someone that’s very technical and tactical,” he continued.
“Nung nasa TNC pa lang siya, parang iba yung approach niya sa game, so parang gusto ko siyang makuha. Unfortunately, pumunta kasi agad siya ng BTR. Nung biglang bumalik na siya ng Pilipinas, sabi ko interested ka bang mag ano (Bren), kumbaga parang pa-cute pa ko sa kaniya. Parang nililigawan ko pa lang siya. Sabi ko sa kaniya, gusto mo mag-apply? ‘Di ko siya nirektang siya yung kukunin ko. Sabi ko, mag-tryouts ka.”
