By Nodley Wright, Freelance WriterFORMER TECHNICAL director of Jamaica's football programme, Clovis de Oliveira, could be in line for a high profile job in his home country, Brazil.
Fifty-year-old de Oliveira, who guided Jamaica's football programme from mid-2000 to 2001, left the island on Saturday for home to enter into discussions for a job alongside his long time friend Rene Simoes, who was appointed technical director of that country's women's football programme.
"It is a possibility that I could be part of the Brazil Olympic Women's programme," de Oliveira told The Gleaner on Saturday shortly before his departure.
"It is not confirmed yet but when I reach Brazil there is the possibility that that discussion could take place," continued de Oliveira, who had just returned from the Cayman Islands the previous day.
Simoes, who was appointed less than a week ago, is himself a former technical director of Jamaica's football programme.
GREATEST SUCCESS
In fact the little Brazilian was at the helm of the programme at a time when Jamaica enjoyed its greatest success in the sport internationally. During that time the country created history by becoming the first English-speaking Caribbean country to qualify for the World Cup finals.
The 1998 World Cup qualification was followed in 1999 by the country's Under-17 team qualifying for that year's Under-17 World Cup, which was held in New Zealand. During that time, de Oliveira was technical director of the country's youth programme.
Following the resignation of Simoes in 2000 and the subsequent resignation of his replacement, another Brazilian, Sebastiao Lazaroni, after just three months, de Oliveira took over. His contract, which was supposed to go up to the 2002 World Cup, was cut short in 2001 - 10 months early after the team lost all realistic chances of qualifying for the World Cup.
Jamaica lost 0-1 to Honduras in a game where they had to take all three points to keep alive their hopes of a second consecutive appearance at the World Cup finals.
The result left Jamaica in fifth place on eight points, while Costa Rica booked their place with a 2-0 home win over the then struggling USA.
De Oliveira returned to the island on February 3 on what was said to be a three-month stint with Trelawny's National Premier League team Village United.
Following speculation from the local populace, including the press, de Oliveira moved to clarify his position saying that he was only here assisting friends, who had stood by him in difficult times.
He also said that he could leave at any time from a week after being here to three months as there were a number of job opportunities, which could come through at any time.
