In the same week that swimmer Joseph Schooling was honoured after getting the better of US icon Michael Phelps in Rio to send an island nation into a frenzy, two Americans looked to make their mark on Singapore football.
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With ex-Liverpool star Jermaine Pennant injured, Tampines Rovers drafted 18-year-old Californian Diego Silvas into their squad for a midweek S League match, as his father Thomas stepped up his community efforts with the Southeast Asian giants.
Thomas, 51, is an accomplished coach and former US striker – he earned two senior caps – who arrived with his son in Singapore in June.
He's been commissioned by Tampines chairman Krishna Ramachandra to help make football more accessible to underprivileged youth.
He agrees that the Schooling gold medal – Singapore's first in Olympic history – has the potential to inspire disadvantaged youngsters in all sports, including football.
"Joseph Schooling's gold medal is a perfect example that dreams can come true with hard work and dedication, and we want to inspire and give hope to as many youths as possible" Silvas told ESPN FC.
"My role in the community will see me wear many hats in regards to coaching, life coaching, mentoring and training kids. Our main goal will be to give back through football and work with groups like Beyond Social Services."
Tampines Rovers are vying neck-and-neck with Albirex Niigata (S) for the 2016 S League title and will face India's Bengaluru FC in the quarter-finals of the AFC Cup next month. Silvas' role, due to start soon, will be funded by Tampines' sponsors, who are also helping ease the club's earlier cash flow problems.
The Stags boast Pennant and fellow imports ex-Ireland under-21 striker Billy Mehmet and Canadian winger Jordan Webb, plus a raft of Singapore international stars, including Izwan Mahbud, Hafiz Sujad and Fazrul Nawaz. And now, the precocious teenage talent of Diego Silvas has been added to the mix.
Silvas came through the youth system of the Seattle Sounders, playing for the MSL side's under-18s and reserve teams. After only three matches for Tampines' Prime League side, eyebrows were raised when he was selected in the match day squad for a must-win game against Hougang United on Wednesday. In the end, he was left on the bench as Tampines suffered a late 2-1 defeat, but is expected to make his debut soon.
"We were both blessed with speed and skill, and like to score goals, but Diego is much more professional and disciplined than I ever was," Silvas said.
"We came here because Diego could make an impact in the S League, while I could help off the field by working with the youth players in Singapore, and elsewhere in Asia, as I have done with the Silvas Family Soccer Foundation in the US."
Silvas, who has a US Soccer Federation A licence, sponsored disadvantaged youngsters as coach of successful Californian junior side Almaden FC, for whom Diego was a key team member. He would provide counselling for the players and their families and help them apply for university scholarships.
Coming from a broken home, near San Francisco, with eight siblings, Thomas Silvas says that football was his way out of tough times, and helped him develop the determination to earn a law degree. As a player, he was part of a dominant UCLA college team, under Sigi Schmid and future World Cup coach Steve Sampson, before cutting his professional teeth with the San Jose Earthquakes, the Los Angeles Heat and the Orlando Lions in the days before Major League Soccer.
His US caps came in 1986 when, as a 20-year-old, he was selected by head coach Lothar Osiander, playing in home draws against Canada and Uruguay. It was just after the Americans had failed to qualify for Mexico '86. Three decades later, the nation can look back on seven consecutive appearances at World Cup finals and a thriving MLS.
"I am not that surprised about how far US soccer has come. For the last 20 to 30 years, I have been playing or coaching and I have witnessed every field, every night, and every weekend, covered with little boys and girls playing soccer. Now, these kids are adults and they are willing to support soccer in the USA."
Now Thomas, with the help of Tampines' rising star Diego, hopes to plant the seeds for football's growth in their new home nation, still buzzing about the day that Joseph schooled Michael in the 100 metres butterfly in Brazil.
* Former Herald journalist Jason Dasey is Singapore-based senior editor of global football website: www.espnfc.com
