Limits, says Armandinho Manjate, are merely impediments of the imagination. There are no such things as boundaries anymore.

Potential, ability, are universal passports.

“If you see the last World Cup,’’ he says, sitting on the upslope beside Encana Field out at Shouldice Park on a broiling late Friday afternoon, as the day’s on-pitch training is winding down, “my country, Brazil, we were not the best team. Because the evolution of football has been globalized.”

The effervescent Manjate is outfitted in the blue top of Cruziero, the famous club team in Barro Preto, a barrio of Belo Horizonte.

“I’ve been doing this for a while. I’ve been all over the world. And the small countries, they can develop as well as the big countries these days. Look at Costa Rica, how well they did at the World Cup. Good players are everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you live, where you were born, the colour of your skin or your religion.

“You see talented players in every part of the world. Every part. That’s our job. To identify these players. Wherever they are.

“If you’re a good player, we’re going to find you.”

To that end, out on the pitch, scouts representing top professional clubs such Benfica, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Cruzeiro and Celtic are sizing up 43 Calgary-area Tier I and Tier II U-12 to U-18 players scouted by former professional Eddie Escobar, who played collegiately and professionally in the U.S. and has ties with clubs in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and England as a scout.

After eight years working at the Edge School for Athletics, Escobar formed Higher Level Sports Academy, using his football contacts to try to establish a better pipeline for young talent. The high-performance ID camp opened Friday and runs through Sunday.

“I’m in the business of helping kids accomplish their full potential,’’ he says. “I want the level to be high because when we bring in these scouts, they trust that the quality of player is what they’re looking for. If I don’t, that’s the quickest way for me to be out of business.

“In Canada, a lot of players never reach their potential because they aren’t presented with the right opportunity. That’s what I want to change. Calgary and the clubs here, in my opinion, think too small. They’re only interested in winning local titles. And that’s fine. That’s great. But there should be more for kids who want to aim higher, too.

“There’s more to this than just Calgary. The way I see it, a player can spend $5,000, go and knock on Bayern Munich’s door and most likely not have it opened. Or I can bring Bayern Munich here.

“Let’s showcase our players. There’s definitely a need for something like this. What these kids need is the right opportunity, the right look.”

One of the shining jewels at the moment is 15-year-old wingback Ethan Monaghan, who impressed Portuguese side Benfica (the legendary Eusebio’s old club) so much during a two-and-a-half-week look starting at the beginning of July that he’ll be heading back for a second audition in Lisbon before Christmas.

Monaghan reached out to Escobar as a Tier 4 player (“Coach Eddie thought I was a good player but a bit lazy,” Monaghan admits with the candour of a 15-year-old), indicating he wanted to attend the Edge School. Within a year, his natural qualities and Escobar’s guidance had pushed him into to a top Tier I player, landing the invite from Benfica.