Dasovic: Had conversations with FC Edmonton, but committed to Canadian U-20s

Coach Nick Dasovic, right, and his staff

Nick Dasovic spoke with FC Edmonton’s front office about the vacant coaching position, but he remains committed to the Canadian U-20 program.

“I had some really good conversations with the people in Edmonton,” Dasovic said in a media conference call on Wednesday. “But we just decided it wasn’t the right decision for me to make at this time.”

FC Edmonton will announce a new coach Tuesday, and sources indicate the No. 1 candidate is Dasovic’s former national-teammate, Colin Miller.

Dasovic said he’s focused on prepping the U-20 squad for the upcoming CONCACAF Championships, which begin Feb. 18 in Mexico. The draw was released Wednesday — and it sees Canada in a group it should win, with Nicaragua and Cuba. It is in Group B, so the teams that advance will face the teams in Group A, which include the U.S. and Costa Rica.

Dasovic is currently running an U-20 camp in Sunrise, Fla. The team will finish the 11-day retreat with a trip to Costa Rica for a friendly. And, throughout the conference call, he talked about how prepping the team for a tournament in Mexico would benefit the senior squad down the road. Over and over, he referred to building the character of his U-20 charges.

“We have to learn how to win and manage games,” he said.

“We have to learn how to be ruthless, to be winners.

“We want to be a country who hates to lose games.”

And he also spoke how important it is for Canada to deepen its talent pool. Through five U-20 camps, Dasovic has seen more than 40 players. And the interesting experiment this time around was the decision to bring in three players from Polish side WKS Slask Wroclaw; Michael Krzeminski, Patryk Misik and Patrick Majcher. After the trading of some highlight DVDs and some long-distance phone calls, the trio are in camp for a look-see, an opportunity created when some U-20 regulars weren’t able to come to camp because of club commitments.

The most notable of those was striker Keven Aleman. Whenver Aleman’s namedoesnt show up on a youth roster, a wave of paranoia sweeps through Canadian fans, that he’s going to bolt the national team for Costa Rica. But Dasovic said that Aleman was needed at his Spanish side, Real Valladolid.

“He’s a big part of our plans,” said Dasovic. “He’s a big part of our country going forward.”