More context to the CSA coaching decision

[Canuck Oranje]

Or lack of

In order to add some further context to the question of the decision-making competence of our national association, I thought I would share one last piece of news that I have been aware of since early February.

This post should not be construed in any way as an indication another candidate wanting a shot at the job now that Simoes has decided not to accept the CSA’s offer.

As with Simoes, he completely understands that it is the CSA’s right to choose whoever they want and also to set the criteria as they see fit.

However, I do feel it is worthwhile to consider some of the quality that had indicated an interested in coaching our national team. The bottom line is that the CSA had choices and made their choice (or not yet) based on their notions of who they felt was the best for the job given the budget. In this case, budget was not an issue.

Some of the criteria that have been suggested include having CONCACAF experience, knowledge of the players (code for being Canadian), loyalty, and national team experience. In reality however, potential candidates were not given the criteria that would indicate an ideal candidate so some may have been mislead into believing that they would have been considered equally.

In this post, I describe a real candidate for the position. I know with absolute certainty that the application was received. I will not provide the name of the candidate nor will I confirm or deny any names that may be put forward in an attempt to identify the candidate.

In advance, I acknowledge that if CONCACAF experience was felt essential, this candidate would not qualify. His CV is also very typical of Brazilian coaches in that their career obligated him to move around a lot.

Nevertheless, if success is what we are truly after, I suspect that the career success of a candidate should also matter some. In any case, here are some career highlights of this Brazilian coach and former player:

Playing Career

- He played 11 years at the highest level in Brazil at a time when Brazilian players played at home. All were top clubs in the States of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo

- He was a member of one team that won the Copa Libertadores and the World Club Championship.

- He was a member and a leading scorer of a second team that won the State title for Rio de Janeiro.

- He was a member of third team that won the Brazil Cup.

Coaching Career

- He has 30 years of coaching experience. 10 of those years were spent coaching at the highest level in Brazil and matching tactics against top Brazilian coaches like Luis Philippe Scolari, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Tele Santana, Wanderley Luxemburgo, Emerson Leao, Mario Zagallo, and Rene Simoes. For another 10 of those 30 years, he spent coaching top clubs in different countries outside of Brazil.

- Without digging beyond his most recent coaching assignments in Brazil, it is safe to say that he had a hand in developing at least three of Brazil’s current national team players. There are also numerous others currently playing in top leagues in Europe.

- He coached a Senior Men’s National Team, a National U-17 team and National U-20 team, all outside of Brazil.

Coaching Success

- He led the U-20 team of a Brazilian club to win the Copa Sao Paulo de Juniores. This tournament is contested by most of the best U-20 teams in Brazil. Currently, it begins with 88 teams.

- He took the U-20 team of an unfancied country to an Asian Cup win and qualified it for the U-20 World Cup at that time. At the U-20 WC, he coached this team to a significant result against one of the favourites. At the time, Canada and this country were ranked at a similar level.

- He coach a team that reached the finals of the Brazilian League.

- He coached another team that won the domestic league title in another Latin American country.

- He coached a team that won a domestic league title on another continent that he also led to win the continental club title.

In addition to these highlights, his references were ones that any coach around the world would dream of.

Again, this post is only to provide additional context. This is an example of another quality candidate in the mix that had been overlooked for whatever reason. But as has been said by Simoes and others, the choice of who coaches our MNT is a decision of the CSA. I only wish they would be a little more decisive and professional in their conduct.