Canada announces U-20 coach and camp on road to Turkey 2013 December 2, 2011 Men's U-20 Team The Canadian Soccer Association has named Nick Dasovic as coach of Canada’s Men’s U-20 team on the road to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013. Dasovic will start this month with a 10-day camp in Sunrise, FL, USA. The camp features 19 players born 1993 or later. Coach Dasovic returns to the Canadian national youth program after having led Canada to a third-place finish at the 2008 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualifying tournament – just one win away from winning a spot at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Dasovic has since served as an assistant coach and head coach with Toronto FC, helping his side win a pair of Nutrilite Canadian Championships (2009 and 2010). Late in 2010, he became Toronto FC’s fifth head coach. “We are pleased to have Mr. Dasovic back in the fold of Canada’s national program,” said Tony Fonseca, the Canadian Soccer Association’s High Performance Director – Men’s. “We are confident that Nick’s knowledge and experience will help improve the players in their development towards the full national team.” Dasovic is well versed in Canada’s national program, having made 63 appearances himself at the international “A” level from 1992 to 2004. He represented Canada in three cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and also represented Canada at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2001. He then represented Canada in a fourth cycle of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers as an assistant coach to the national team. He also served as an assistant coach with Canada’s U-20 team. Canada’s U-20 camp this December features 19 players, 16 of whom have previous experience in a national youth camp. The players come from clubs in Canada, USA, France, Germany and Spain. Of note, a few players in Canada were not called in per their year-end programs with their clubs. Also of note, goalkeeper Ricky Gomes was unavailable because of injury. CANADA GK- Chad Bush | CAN / Toronto FC Academy GK- Quillan Roberts | CAN / Toronto FC Academy CB- Ben McKendry | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency CB- Daniel Stanese | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency CB- Skylar Thomas | USA / Syracuse University FB- Dino Gardner | FB- Doneil Henry | CAN / Toronto FC FB- Manjrekar James | CAN / Sigma FC FB- Jordan Murrell | USA / Syracuse University M- Bryce Alderson | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC M- Keven Aleman | ESP / Real Valladolid M- Oscar Cordon | CAN / Toronto FC M- Ben Fisk | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency M- Jonathan Lao | GER / FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt M- Shadrack Mmunga | FRA / FC Metz M- Samuel Piette | FRA / FC Metz F- Caleb Clarke | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency F- Abu Kamara | CAN / Concord F- Stefan Vukovic | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
Nice to see that the bulk of the squad come from the two MLS academies, hopefully we'll soon see Montreal adding to the talent pool.
I'm excited to see what Vukovic can do next year. I saw an interview with Danny Dichio on OSAtouchlinetv where he said he hoped TFC would sign Vukovic this offseason and by all accounts he's the best player at TFC Academy right now. I noticed that Max Crepeau from the Montreal Impact Acadamy is M.I.A. (pun intended), so I wonder what the deal is with his injury? And how can you not be happy for Dasovic? I'm glad someone with his certifications can (finally) find another job in Canada. For his sake, I hope this gig is short lived and he finds a pro club somewhere to manage.
Nick Dasovic Under 20 Canadian Men's Soccer team coach with Anthony Totera Sunday, December 4th, 2011 The Under 20 Canadian men's Soccer team's head coach joined Anthony Totera to talk the challenge he'll face in his new job.