Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Legendary South African football coach Pitso Mosimane had no business watching Gaston Sirino on that fateful afternoon in November 2017. “Jingles” had hinted he was in the market for a tall, dominant striker for a while.
Mosimane, a native of Kagiso, was almost convinced he had discovered the perfect player in Gilbert Álvarez Vargas, a towering striker from Jorge Wilstermann, a team named after the first Bolivian commercial pilot.
At just 17, Vargas, a lanky forward with a promising future, made a name for himself by leading the line in the 2009 South American Under-17 Championship. His three goals in the tournament propelled him into the spotlight.
And so, Mosimane set out to Cochabamba, central Bolivia, where Club Deportivo Jorge Wilstermann were locking horns with Bolívar La Paz — Sirino’s club at the time — on 5 November 2017.
It was as if Mosimane was preparing for the departure of two of his frontmen — Percy Tau and Khama Billiat — who would both leave about seven months after his Bolivia trip.
The “Lion of Judah”, as Tau had been christened, later moved to Belgium on loan from English side Brighton, while Billiat jumped ship to join Kaizer Chiefs.
In addition, Leonardo Castro was also on the way out, signalling the end of the eminent ‘CBD’ combination that terrorised defences both on the domestic scene and in the continent in 2016 at Mamelodi Sundowns.
Keegan Dolly had already joined French Ligue 1 side Montpellier in January of that year. But life at Chloorkop had to go on. In South America, there was a man who supposedly could blow a fresh breath of life into the Downs juggernaut.
On 9 November, 2017, a local publication wrote: “A picture of Mosimane alongside a Club Jorge Wilstermann’s head coach, Roberto Mosquera, is currently doing the rounds in Bolivia. As reported over recent months, Sundowns are looking to add two more strikers to their books in the near future as Mosimane looks for the missing puzzle pieces of his attacking department.”
But as fate would have it, Vargas, who had previously played his club football in Brazil and Belgium, struggled for form around November 2017 and had not scored a goal in four games. In fact, a video of that particular game shows the then 25-year-old striker only touched the ball 11 times. Seven touches in the first half and a mere four times summed up a man who was far from impressive.
Mosquera, a Peruvian manager, was on his way out of the club then. Perhaps his most trusted striker was slightly unsettled because of the team’s instability.
On the other hand, the man who would strike twice for Bolívar La Paz was none other than Sirino.
Understandably, the Downs’ scouting team couldn’t take their eyes off the slender, skilful forward who scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the game. His first goal came in the seventh minute and the second two minutes later.
During the next three weeks, Sirino was in unrelenting form, banging in four goals in three matches as if he knew a South African team was following him with a hawk’s eye.
“We were on a mission to find a towering striker for the Champions League,” Esrom Nyandoro tells FARPost. “A tall, agile forward was our target.” The former Mamelodi Sundowns anchorman had been sent to Bolivia alongside then-head scout Walter Steenbok to provide a second opinion to Mosimane.
True to his solitary nature, Nyandoro chose to watch the game alone, away from the influence of Mosimane and Steenbok, to offer his unfiltered assessment. The final whistle blew, and Mosimane turned to the scouts for their evaluation.
“I knew we had come for Vargas, but the number 7’s performance blew me away. He scored two goals in ten minutes, created chances, and was simply impossible to ignore. That number 7 was Sirino, a player we couldn’t miss,” explains Nyandoro.
As Mosimane returned home to focus on the team, Steenbok and Nyandoro continued their Bolivian scouting adventure, their mission lasting an additional three weeks.
Steenbok, the author of The Football Scouting Bible, recalls the thrill of visiting the local television station. With hearts pounding with anticipation, they purchased video footage of Sirino’s matches.
“We went to a television station where we bought 12 videos of matches. The league has 14 teams, so watching all those videos meant we covered the entire league. We wanted to watch more of him,” he tells FARPost.
Nyandoro recalls travelling thousands of miles to watch the talented midfielder. “We poured over hours of footage, analysing every match. We saw him in action more than 16 times.
“We sent everything we had to our team back home. We wanted their expert opinion on this hidden gem. We were searching for one player, but we discovered another. Sirino was a revelation,” the former Warriors midfielder adds.
After watching several other games and scanning through the videos, there was no way Sirino would remain in Bolivia.
In any case, he was already 2 000 kilometres from Salto, his rural town on the Argentinian border. Salton, with a population of 100 000, is home to Uruguay’s top strikers, Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani.
He explains what impressed them about the then 26-year-old: “He worked tirelessly, defending with passion and attacking with purpose. He was a winger who could also play as a playmaker. He was the perfect fit for Sundowns. Coach Pitso always emphasised the importance of all his attacking players helping defensively. Sirino embodied that philosophy.”
Unlike his dad, who turned down opportunities to play the game elsewhere, the 33-year-old star moved to Montevideo to join the youth side of Penarol, one of the league’s big two but was considered too small to make the senior squad.
Undeterred, he tried his luck at Rampla Juniors and was later snapped up by Union San Felipe in Chile, where he shone like a beacon before taking the Bolivian Liga de Fútbo by storm.
On that Bolivia excursion, the Downs scouts saw a quick, dribbling wizard and immediately forgot about the tall striker.
Interestingly, Sirino knew nothing about South Africa then, but he was ready for a new challenge.
“I was looking for a new challenge after winning the league with Bolivar,” he said after finally completing his move in January 2018.
“I had heard there was interest in me from a club in South Africa. We hear very little about South African football in South America, so I had to look into the club and its history. I called my agent and asked him what he thought of the club. He told me about the Champions League victory and the club’s success. That was enough for me to take up the challenge and explore this opportunity under the guidance of coach Pitso. The coach made me feel welcomed and made it easy for me to adjust to the league and my teammates.”
Those who followed the relationship closely know how much he became Mosimane’s most trusted lieutenant. In 202 appearances for Sundowns, he scored 41 goals and provided 44 assists.
When Nasreddine Nabi took over the coaching reins at Kaizer Chiefs, Sirino became one of his key targets. The talented attacker has been Nabi’s most trusted arsenal as he looks to turn around the fortunes of the Soweto giants.
In the first four games in all competitions, he has scored twice and provided two assists. He obtained a South African passport over a year ago, making him eligible to represent Bafana Bafana.
With his Amakhosi form, it remains to be seen whether Sirino will eventually don the Bafana jersey. (farpost.co.za)
