Carlos Luciano da Silva has impressed the soccer mums and dads of Aintree soccer club. The club’s coach in the suburb on Melbourne’s north-western fringe teaches not just skills, but discipline, teamwork and mental strength.
Word soon got around that da Silva, who fans nicknamed Mineiro, once played for Brazil and scored the only goal for Sao Paulo that defeated Liverpool in the final of the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in Japan.
Former Brazilian soccer star Mineiro is now coaching kids such as Wesal, 10, Ciaran, 9, Shiven, 7, and Ruairi, 7, in Aintree, in Melbourne’s north-west.Credit:Chris Hopkins
Rishu Thapar, 35, whose seven-year-old son Shiven is a member of the Aintree under-8 team, said at first he didn’t believe it when another parent told him about the coach’s stellar past.
“I said, ‘Are you serious?’” said Thapar, but Google searches confirmed that Mineiro, a defensive midfielder, represented Brazil 24 times in the early 2000s and was in the 2006 World Cup squad. He played for Sao Paulo and English Premier League team Chelsea.
He is not the only storied international player coaching juniors in Melbourne. Another is Jesper Olsen, who in the 1980s played for Denmark in the World Cup and also played for Manchester United.
Olsen moved to Australia with his wife and four children in 2003. A former Melbourne Heart assistant coach, he now co-owns Future Football Academy and works with soccer clubs in the south-eastern suburbs. Clients range in age from five to 19.
Jesper Olsen playing for English Premier League team Manchester United in 1987.Credit:Allsport UK
Olsen also coaches teams at Melbourne Grammar.
He said learning soccer also has social and life skill benefits, such as teaching people how to take responsibility for their role and work as a team.
Parents in Aintree say the warm and softly spoken Mineiro has impressed them with the discipline, teamwork and grace he imparts to their children.
Mineiromoved to Melbourne with his wife, Daiane, and three children in 2020.
Thapar said while parents are excited at Mineiro passing on his playing skills, he also teaches kids “to be humble and to be kind with the other team”.
Johanna Grieve, whose sons Ruairi, 7, and Ciaran, 9, started playing under 9s and under 11s soccer for Aintree this year, said Mineiro being coach was “fantastic”, given many kids’ teams have parents as coaches.
Grieve reckoned her sons would be more likely to end up playing for an A-League team “based on starting them this young with a good coach”.
“It’s not just the skills; he talks to them after the matches on how they performed, where they need to improve, talks a lot of strategy, but also helps them to mentally prepare.”
Mineiro and England’s Joe Cole in an international friendly match between England and Brazil at Wembley Stadium in 2007.Credit:Getty Images
In 2020, Mineiro, who has also lived in Germany and England, was invited to be head coach of the private Woodlea Soccer Academy in Aintree, whose directors include executives from the Woodlea housing estate developers.
Mineiro is now also president and head coach of Aintree Soccer Club, whose “MiniRoos” teams (for kids aged four to 11) are four games into their first season.
Asked if children are lucky to have him coach them, Mineiro said it works both ways.
“I’m very glad to be here and have the chance to support them and give them the opportunity to start to play, not only soccer, but to encourage them to practise sports,” he said.
“To be a better person, a better player and to do the best in their lives.”
Mineiro, who was raised in poverty in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, said the mental side of the game is the most important factor.
“I think I never gave up, even in the bad times. Soccer is about winning, losing and different results, and you have to always keep fighting.”
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