• ‘Captains’ is a fascinating, free-to-watch FIFA+ Originals docuseries

• It features Thiago Silva’s journey to help Brazil reach Qatar 2022

• The centre-back reveals what prepared him for the pressure

“There is a lot of pressure and putting on the captain’s armband automatically puts more pressure on.” Thiago Silva is discussing a role that fills him with pride as much as it drains him.

“Everyone is watching me and wants me to be a superhero in some way,” he says. “I have to carry a lot of weight.”

Silva, 38, has been a professional footballer for two decades and played at the highest level, winning over 30 trophies at club and international level, representing some of the biggest clubs in his home country, Italy, France and England. But even given his wealth of experience, the responsibility of leading Brazil at a World Cup can still take its toll. “Only those who’ve worn the national-team shirt in a World Cup know the responsibility we have on our shoulders,” says Thiago during the new documentary Captains, which follows the journeys of six players as they bid to lead their teams to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

Being captain of Brazil is one of the most pressurised positions in the country, coming with as much attention and scrutiny as being president. As renowned Brazilian author Paulo Coelho says, this is a country with “200 million football coaches”, with every citizen having their own opinion on how the team should be playing. Winning a record five World Cups does not sate supporters’ hunger or temper expectations. It makes them even more demanding, ever more critical. Coelho explains: “When you love something so much your way of expressing it might sound very hateful.” Take Brazil’s qualifying campaign for the World Cup. They were top the table, having won all of their first nine matches, but after a 0-0 draw away to Colombia the national media rounded on the team.

Silva was asked in a press conference if he still cared about playing for the national team, a question which caused him great pain.

“Sometimes the fans just don’t get it,” he says. “They say, ‘Look at all the money he has, he doesn’t care’. But it’s not like that.”

If one thing has prepared Thiago for the unforgiving nature of international football it is the ruthless matches between neighbourhoods in Brazil, known as the Varzea, which he played in as a child. Varzea refers to the floodplains where football was first played in Brazil but also means improvised, without organisation. It was on these dusty pitches and lawless matches where Silva and so many of his Brazil team-mates got the footballing education which turned them into professionals. “Varzea is where it all began,” he says with a smile. “It was at Varzea where we learned to dribble, where we learned to give everything.

“I was around 11 or 12 years old when I played Varzea for the first time. I was very shy. I went on the pitch, which was very crowded, and said to myself ‘What the hell is this?’” “People expect a lot of you at Varzea. We were under incredible amounts of pressure. If you messed up people would tear you apart. “All the Brazilians playing in Europe and the national team started at Varzea. Marquinhos played Varzea, so did Neymar, so did Gabriel Jesus. For us the pressure to win has always been there from the early days in Varzea. The pressure I felt then doesn’t even compare to what I feel today.”

Silva’s rise to Brazil captain is perhaps surprising given his shy demeanour. Indeed, his first love was flying kites, not playing football, but everything changed when he watched the USA 1994 final between Brazil and Italy. When Roberto Baggio’s missed penalty handed Brazil a fourth World Cup, Silva knew he wanted to grow up to be a footballer and play for his country. He took his first steps towards that goal in the local team of the impoverished community of Vila Urucania, Rio de Janeiro, where his coach Dequinho noticed his leadership qualities. “In training he organised the players, he always took it very seriously so I gave him the captain’s armband,” he recalls. “We were in a forgotten community but he gave it a name. Many players who have played here could have been professional but didn’t believe in themselves enough. Thiago showed that it’s enough to believe to dream and to fight every day to get there.”

Silva admits he underwent a transformation in character when he played football. “I’m a shy person and I struggle to make friends. My childhood friends called me mouse because I would hardly leave the house.

“Over time football became more important in my life and because of football I managed to put my shyness to one side. That’s how I became Thiago Silva. That’s when I started thinking ‘maybe I can go a little further’. I dreamed of playing in full stadiums and as your passion for something grows you go in search of your dreams.”

Now leading is part of his character. “Thiago’s leadership is ‘notorious’”, says coach Tite. Silva's wife Isabele adds: “People see him as the captain wherever he goes, even his friends call him ‘Capita’ because they see the leadership in him. Thiago has the personality of a leader and on the pitch he’s a monster.” Silva’s dream of becoming a footballer and playing on the biggest stages has long since been realised. He is about to play in his fourth World Cup. But one ambition remains: following in the footsteps of the five great Brazil teams by lifting the trophy on 18 December at the Lusail Stadium. “Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would play four World Cups,” he says. “But I don’t want to just play four World Cups man. I want to win the trophy so I’m remembered for the rest of my life.”

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