Ex Barcelona star Sylvinho showed coaching potential with Guardiola and now has chance to shine with Brazil U23s

IT IS almost exactly ten years since one of the most important goals in the coaching career of Pep Guardiola.

It was his first season in charge of Barcelona, and in the semi finals of the Champions League, his team were seconds away from elimination away to Chelsea.

Then Lionel Messi pulled back from the line, Andres Iniesta fired home, and Barcelona were on their way.

On the touchline, the rookie coach celebrated like a supporter.

In the midst of the Stamford Bridge turmoil, the man acting more like a coach was the club’s veteran right back, in his last couple of months with the club.

Coolest head in the cauldron, former Arsenal player Sylvinho wandered over to Guardiola to remind him that he still had substitutions left to make, so he could eat up valuable time and slow things down by going to the bench.

FORMATIVE YEARS

The conclusion was clear. Syvinho was coaching material.

A decade on, he has diligently picked up further experience and is getting ready for solo flight.

At the end of that epic 2008/9 season, Manchester City took him on for a final campaign.

After that he moved back to Brazil, where he has been on the coaching staff of a number of big clubs.

When Tite took over the national team in 2016, he sent for Sylvinho. It was an obvious choice.

Tite lacks first hand knowledge of top class European club football. Sylvinho has it in spades.

And so, over the last three years, in his own quiet way, Sylvinho has become an important voice in the discussions about how Brazil should set up their side.

A current problem, for example, is the centre forward position. In truth, it has been something of an Achilles heel for a while.

Tite trusted that the rise of the young Gabriel Jesus was the solution – but the Manchester City striker ran into a wall during the World Cup.

Since then, the front runner has been Roberto Firmino. But so far Brazil have proved unable to get the best out of him, to knit him into a collective pattern.

Sylvinho is currently studying the problem.

He was sent to watch Liverpool against Chelsea on Sunday, and will be in the stadium to watch him once again this Wednesday when Liverpool travel to Porto in the Champions League.

BOYS OF BRAZIL

Before that he is in Turin to cast an eye on a new candidate for a place in Brazil’s Copa America attack – David Neres, who will be in action for Ajax against Juventus.

And soon Sylvinho will be more than an advisory voice.

The Under-23 category is being brought back in South American national team football.

The last time it featured was in 2004, when a tournament was held in Chile to determine which two teams would represent the continent in the Athens Olympics.

After that the Under-23 competition was scrapped, and qualification for the subsequent Games came via the Under-20s.

But now the Under-23s are back.

There will be a competition in Colombia next year to sort out the two representatives in the Tokyo Olympics.

This time Sylvinho will not be a voice in the ear of a Guardiola or a Tite. He is in sole command.

At the age of 45, his time has surely come. The coaching potential that he revealed a decade ago will soon be put to the test.

Source: Read Full Article