Malky Mackay discovered that Brazil has the same issues finding young footballers as Scotland when he recently spoke to some of their top coaches.
The SFA 's performance director was invited by the Brazilian Football Confederation to the Granja Comary football complex in Teresopolis to give a Pro Licence presentation over two days in December.
Brazil coach Tite, assistant Cesar Sampaio and several of the Brazilian Serie A managers including Renato Gaucho of Gremio were in the classroom and, when discussion turned to grassroots football and bringing through the next generation in a country which has won the World Cup five times, the former Scotland defender was familiar with the concerns.
Mackay said: "They are coming up against the same challenges as we are, which surprised me.
"We talked about the dearth of street football.
"It certainly happened in Scotland - there is a dearth of dribblers and street footballers.
"My perception was street football was going on everywhere in Brazil and they all wanted to play, but the surprising thing is it is happening there as well.
"They spoke about finding the kids that are hungry. They need to find kids who want to play football, have that desire and want that to be the only focus.
"But the youth there is not that different to other places in the world. Social media, computer games... kids have got other interests and they do in Brazil as well.
"The kids are going other ways and they want to do something about that."
