Valerio Gazzola Named New U-20 Head Coach

[Sam]

CSA Press Release http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4219

The Canadian Soccer Association has named Valerio Gazzola as Canada’s new national men’s U-20 head coach. Mr. Gazzola will assume his responsibilities immediately as the team begins preparations for the 2011 CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship. Mr. Gazzola assumes the role previously served by Tony Fonseca, who is now the full-time assistant coach to the Canadian national team and head coach of the men’s U-23 / Olympic team.

'It is an honour to be involved with the national program,' said Valerio Gazzola. 'I look forward to the challenge of helping this team qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.'

Mr. Gazzola most recently served as technical director of ARS Laval, a position he held since 2007. The former McGill player and coach has also coached with Dollard, Monteuil and Lac St-Louis this past decade. In the past, he also coached numerous provincial all-star teams at the BMO National Championships.

Most notably, Mr. Gazzola was head coach of Impact Montréal from 1994 to 1997 and 2000 to 2001. In his first year as head coach, he led the Impact to a North American Cup championship, winning the A-League playoff title with a 1:0 victory over the Colorado Foxes at Stade Claude-Robillard. From 1995 to 1997, he led the Impact to three straight first-place finishes.

At the international level, he recently served as an assistant coach with Canada’s men’s U-20 team, helping Canada finish fourth at the VIes Jeux de la Francophonie Lebanon 2009. He previously served as an assistant coach to Bert Goldberger with Canada’s U-17 team (1991-1993) and to Ray Clark with Canada’s U-18 team (1998-2000). He helped Canada qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup Japan 1993.

Canada’s men’s U-20 team will participate in the 2011 CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship in the first quarter of the new year, with the schedule and location yet to be announced. The confederation championship will serve as the qualification phase before the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The men’s U-20 program features players born 1991 or later.

[Lord Bob]

Holy crap! Gazzola? Was John Limniatis too expensive?

[Sam]

Holy crap! Gazzola? Was John Limniatis too expensive?

Typical CSA move though... hire from within.

If the head coach doesn't work out, then why not try the assistant.

[jpg75]

^ The head coach got promoted...

[Lord Bob]

When I get home, guys, I'm going to rummage through the couch and find some change. I encourage you all to join me. If we find enough quarters and nickels, maybe we can buy the CSA a real manager for the second-most important team in the men's program.

[Free kick]

It would be quite unsual to go outside to look for a U20 coach. I cannot think of (off the top of my head) of a high profile foreign coach at the helm of an National U20 team. But who knows, it wouldn't surprise me if this was the case for some u20 national side in the Gulf region where there are oodles of money. U20 teams are not like the national teams. National U20 coaches are seldom, if ever, high profile names, they are usually a good starting point for an up and coming coach or recently retired star player ( with good coaching potential) to get his feet wet at the entry level

That said, I am a little surprised by this decision. We are all quite familair with his exploits at the A-league/APSL level but I find his pedigree and resume quite underwhelming. Even for a national U20 coach. He hasn't coached at a pro level in a very long time. My immediate recollection of his winning the APSL title when his Montreal Impact team beat the Colorado Foxes. He teams seem to play very tight defensively and dont score many goals

Whats wrong with a recently retired former national team player? preferably with playing experience abroad and who might want to get his feet wet on the coaching side. Then again, what i said about Gazzola, could have been said of Fonseca as well.

[Guest Ed]

I could suggest a better candidate, works in Canada, available, etc.

Passed over for our youth teams in the past however.

[jpg75]

NT's with foreign coaches at last years U20 WC:

Australia - Jan VERSLEIJEN (NED)

Egypt - Miroslav SOUKUP (CZE)

USA - Thomas RONGEN (NED) *

T&T - Zoran VRANES (SRB)

Paraguay - Adrian CORIA (ARG)

Tahiti - Lionel CHARBONNIER (FRA)

[Free kick]

I could suggest a better candidate, works in Canada, available, etc.

Passed over for our youth teams in the past however.

Name? who did you have in mind. There are many that I could think off that would have been pretty good. If they were interested of course.

John Limniatis - Had some success Concacaf Champions league. Played for Canada.

Jason Devos - Captained the national side. Experience in international soccer. Played overseas and at home.

Craig Forrest - Keeper who played in EPL. International playing experience.

Dany Dichio - Dont know if he is still around. He has demonstrated and interest in coaching, played internationally at youth levels, pro experience in England and Italy.

Jason Bent - Coaches academy team and is familiar coaching this age group. Has international experience and played for national team.

I am sure that there are more that I haven't thought of . Problem with the last four is that their current gigs by pay them more and keep them more occupied than the U20 position.

Gazzolla strikes me as the kind of guy who made his mark at the local level only . Plus, he has not coached for such a long time.

[youllneverwalkalone]

Does his name rhyme with Riendorf?

I could suggest a better candidate, works in Canada, available, etc.

Passed over for our youth teams in the past however.

[Jeremy]

When I get home, guys, I'm going to rummage through the couch and find some change. I encourage you all to join me. If we find enough quarters and nickels, maybe we can buy the CSA a real manager for the second-most important team in the men's program.

There should be a Voyageurs bank account in which every member puts all the pennies he finds on the stret and let it gain interest over a 5 year period, then donate all of it to the CSA for a new coach.

[Sam]

John Limniatis - Had some success Concacaf Champions league. Played for Canada.

Jason Devos - Captained the national side. Experience in international soccer. Played overseas and at home.

Craig Forrest - Keeper who played in EPL. International playing experience.

Dany Dichio - Dont know if he is still around. He has demonstrated and interest in coaching, played internationally at youth levels, pro experience in England and Italy.

Jason Bent - Coaches academy team and is familiar coaching this age group. Has international experience and played for national team.

To be fair these are all just big names, we have no idea what Gazzola's accord with the players is and for all we know he could be a fantastic academy coach. The only thing I don't like is it seems like just LCD signing as apposed to going out and looking for someone, but until we see how he does I'll give the CSA the benifit of the doubt.

[Guest Ed]

Re ynwa's alone's query. Bingo.

[jpg75]

Just wondering, but is this Gazzola guy really that bad?

De Vos and Forrest don't want to coach. Dichio might turn out to be a great coach, but too early to tell. Bent, i'll leave up to those who are really in the know about TFCA.

Niendorf would be a great pick-up. Another one would be Mike Matkovich, but he wouldn't leave his gig with the US U18 team. Or Patrick "guess my real name" Tobo. Sasho Cirovski at U of Maryland is another who would take a pay cut for this job.

[Sam]

Or Patrick "guess my real name" Tobo.

Please someone answer this question. Every time I hear about Tobo people mention he's played in the World Cup, but when looking at the Cameroon WC squads from 82 and 90 there is no Tobo... so what's his name!!!

[Mazha]

I can't believe that Niendorf was overlooked for this position. I guess he was just TOO German for us (we sure don't want to be LIKE the GERMANS, but I'm sure we'll ALL be watching Bayern on May 22 in the Champions League final ). The 2007-2008 Residency season was top-notch, if any of you remember or ever saw it. It certainly has been downhill in the last few months. Wonder WHY!!!

[Admin]

What exactly is Niendorf's record beyond the five players he has been riding for a while?

How long did he coach those players and in what context? On a team? Academy? Together? Individualy?

He has reached some kind of legendary status and I am not sure why.

[Guest Ed]

What five players are you talking about?

I think his record RECENTLY with the Whitecaps Residency stands on its own, despite the players he trained to go onto pro careers prior to his move to Vancouver. His Residency squads showed well against some of the top U19 teams in Europe.

[Admin]

What five players are you talking about?

I think his record RECENTLY with the Whitecaps Residency stands on its own, despite the players he trained to go onto pro careers prior to his move to Vancouver. His Residency squads showed well against some of the top U19 teams in Europe.

I am not saying he is crap or anything. It's just the skill he seems to be best known for is spending other people's money when I have asked this similiar question in other circles.

The five players, the usual suspects... well.... *******, McKenna, Tam, Keeper Guy ... somebody else.... I just remember there being five pretty big names associated with him.

So what is he good at? Being an agent? Coaching an academy team? Coaching a competive team? Technical development? Coaching a National team? People seem to think he is all of these things. Most people are rarely two of them.

[Guest Ed]

I am not saying he is crap or anything. It's just the skill he seems to be best known for is spending other people's money when I have asked this similiar question in other circles.

The five players, the usual suspects... well.... *******, McKenna, Tam, Keeper Guy ... somebody else.... I just remember there being five pretty big names associated with him.

So what is he good at? Being an agent? Coaching an academy team? Coaching a competive team? Technical development? Coaching a National team? People seem to think he is all of these things. Most people are rarely two of them.

Being an agent? No, he is not an agent, but he does have excellent contacts in Germany and abroad thru the many German DFB licensed coaches he knows.

Technical development? Hard to say. Shouldn't that be done earlier? He does have an excellent reputation as a trainer who can help players prepare for trials.

Coaching an academy team? I think his record with the Residency program vs top German, Spanish and Japanese squads answers that question.

Coaching a competitive team? Well he did quite well early in his stint with Calgary (PDL championship game appearance with almost all local Alberta players) but didn't do that well with the A-League teams.

Coaching a National Team? N/A. Never had the opportunity. Thanks for that CSA.

[Admin]

Being an agent? No, he is not an agent, but he does have excellent contacts in Germany and abroad thru the many German DFB licensed coaches he knows.

Technical development? Hard to say. Shouldn't that be done earlier? He does have an excellent reputation as a trainer who can help players prepare for trials.

Coaching an academy team? I think his record with the Residency program vs top German, Spanish and Japanese squads answers that question.

Coaching a National Team? N/A. Never had the opportunity. Thanks for that CSA.

It will be interesting to see where he goes and what he does.

[Mazha]

Don't forget that cinderella first PDL season with a team of teenagers, when Neindorf led his squad

to the North American semi-finals despite being short 5 core players at the end of their season due to trials in Germany.

[narduch]

Does anyone know if Neindorf wanted the job? Did he apply?

Does anyone know if Gazzola is a good coach?

[Lord Bob]

Does anybody know how old Gazzola is? I looked and couldn't find that information for the life of me.

[loyola]

According to the CSA, the U20's will be in Spain for 2 weeks in August:

http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4354