While I was attending the Under 20 qualifiers in Charleston, S.C. I had the opportunity to meet several prominent members among the U.S. and North American soccer scene. One of these prominent figures was Bob Lilley, who was kind enough to spare a few moments of his time to answer a few questions I had for him. I'd like to thank Coach Lilley for taking time out to have a word right after Canada drew with Haiti 0-0 on Friday, November 15th.
What did you think of Jason DiTullio's performance with the Canadian team?
Well, for Canada I'm sure they would have liked to have won this game. It's going to make it tough for them. They're going to have to play well against the U.S. and obviously the Haiti-El Salvador game becomes magnified now. You know, Jason's an honest player. I think he had a solid game but he's had better.
What did you think about the knock he took during the match (DiTullio suffered a hard foul during the middle of the match that appeared to have possibly injured him)?
With him he plays so hard he's going to challenge for everything. He's been down a few times usually he gets up and smiles afterwards. He's a tough kid and he had a great year for us in Montreal. It's nice to be able to see him out here playing. When you work with kids and see young players develop. The U.S. has been doing it for the last four or five years now. You're seeing Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, and you're seeing the younger kids. Even some of the players here with the Canadian team are exciting getting chances not only here in the A-League with Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, possibly Vancouver for some of them, but you're also seeing some of these guys get some opportunities overseas.
What do you think of the influence of the A-League on the Canadian U-20 team and the Canadian national program in general?
I'm relatively new to Canada and a lot of the players in their senior national team program are overseas. Certainly we think Patrice Bernier is a player that is a young, up and coming player that we're hoping will get some opportunities. He's been with the Canadian Under 20s and Under 23s previously. We also have four players on our roster that have been with the Under 23s in the last year Rocco Placentino, David Fronimades, Adam Braz, and Gaspar Borsellino. So for us having our players get the added opportunity, exposure, and they're developing with the national program and hopefully we're doing a good job in Montreal and that's why they're getting chances.
What does next year hold for the Impact?
Well, we had a real positive year. Certainly we all try to win championships. We have some areas we can definitely improve but I think the players were great this year trying to adapt to me and a new system. They worked hard we've gotten a bit younger certainly we've got some older players like Nic DeSantis and Mauro Biello with leadership. We feel as young as we are that we're going to get better and we're hoping to maybe go a little bit further in the playoffs. You never know. I think this year at the end of the year we were one of the better teams in the league. I think for us it's a learning process and right now we're still learning but I think we're learning at a rapid rate.
Are there any prospects you've seen here?
There's a few interesting players. I think we're always looking. As coaches we don't always divulge our secrets.
I don't expect you to but have you seen some good players?
There are some players that certainly could help. Unfortunately some of them are obviously taken by other clubs already but you never know when a player's going to become available and at least being down here we'll just file it away into the memory bank and if there's the right time to pounce certainly we'll try to pick them up.
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