Beach Soccer |07 March 2015
Seychelles appoints Brazilian as beach soccer national coach
The Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) has appointed a Brazilian as the head coach of our national beach soccer team.
Bruno Malias Mendes has been appointed as the head coach of the team which is preparing for the Confederation of African Football (Caf) qualifier tournament which the country will host from April 14-19 where the top two teams will qualify automatically for Beach Soccer World Cup in Portugal later this year.
Mendes has just recently put an end to his illustrious playing career where he has won so many accolades both with the Brazilian national team, club sides as well as individual awards as he was a top class striker.
In fact, Mendes has played in many top leagues across the globe such as in Italy, Portugal, Russia and Switzerland after he started his career in Brazil with Vasco Da Gama.
The 34-year-old Mendes has won four Fifa Beach Soccer World Cups in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 where he was their revered striker who grabbed the Beach Soccer World Cup top scorer bronze ball most valuable player in 2006 and won the bronze shoe top scorer in 2006 and 2007.
Mendes is in his first coaching post with our national team who are currently competing at the Power-horse Beach Soccer African Trophy in Durban in South Africa which is taking place from March 6-8 and were to play host South Africa yesterday afternoon.
Coach Mendes is excited about his new challenge with one of the newest beach soccer national selections.
“It’s a new challenge in my sporting career. I worked for 15 years as an athlete in beach soccer and 10 years on the Brazilian national team. In this new chapter, I am proud and happy to follow this path. I am confident and I expect a return in victories due to much commitment, professionalism on and off the field,” Coach Mendes said in a recent interview.
Nonetheless Coach Mendes, who travelled with the team to South Africa on his first assignment, is aware of the task he faces to transform this team which is still finding its feet in this sport in which he has gained much fame and made himself a world star.
“We still have a long way to go. The first step is to evaluate the athletes and the work structure and then strategically plan our future. We have marked the Durban event as very important because we have a big first challenge against the hosts. For other tournaments, we will have more time to work together and that process is very important. We are going to find a way to do the best we can,” Mendes, who is currently completing his major in sport management, said about his new coaching job.
For his part, the SFF President Elvis Chetty told Sports Nation he is glad that they managed to recruit such a high profile coach for our team.
“Coach Mendes was recommended to us and as hosts of the CAF qualifiers, we wanted the best available to give our team the best chance to do well. Coach Mendes has wide experience and we are hoping he can convey this to the players and they will learn a lot from him He is on a short-term contract but if we qualify, we will review our agreement with him,” the SFF president said.
Coach Mendes and the beach soccer national selection will arrive in the country on Tuesday where he will work alongside local coaches Don Anacoura and Robert Edmond as the team prepare for the African competition as host.