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Posted - Jan 12 2006 : 4:10:16 PM
Tony Becca
WHOEVER believes that national teams, regardless of the sport, should not play to win, must be joking. People love winners, they despise losers, and that is why so many Jamaicans are now saying that Rene Simoes should go home.
The problem is, however, Rene Simoes is not a loser - certainly not as far as Jamaica's football is concerned. On the contrary, he has been a tremendous success, and before we pack his bags and send him home, we should remember that.
In terms of building a foundation which would serve Jamaica's football in the years to come, Simoes, up to now, has done little. The blame for that, however, lies with the Jamaica Football Federation who employed him and gave him a mandate.
The mandate was not to coach Jamaicans, it was not to develop a cadre of coaches and to put in place systems which would be around when his time comes to move on. The mandate was simply to qualify for the World Cup of 1998, and he accomplished that.
When Simoes came to Jamaica as Technical Director, the dream, in fact the obsession of the JFF was to qualify for the World Cup, and within a few months, he had Jamaicans from all walks of life, including politicians and businessmen, believing that it was possible - so much so that Jamaicans, decked out in gold, or yellow, and waving flags, packed the National Stadium match after match to cheer on the Reggae Boyz.
The euphoria in those giddy days was such that anyone who dared to talk about anything else, such as plans and programmes for the development of coaches, ran the risk of being tarred, feathered and run out of town.
Yes, those were the days when anything and everything was fine, those were the days when people, from all walks of life, hung onto every word of wisdom, spoken or written by Simoes, and those were the days when those who were thinking about the future and therefore development at home, those who questioned the wisdom in going to England for sons of Jamaicans were branded as fools.
Simoes captured the hearts of Jamaicans in those days while he preached the gospel of football, talked about the earning possibilities of Jamaican players and the importance of winning on the nation's psyche, and although there were some who did not appreciate how he dealt with players like Walter Boyd and Onandi Lowe, the majority applauded his no-nonsense approach and his stand on the matter of discipline.
In those days, with Deon Burton out of England scoring goals, and with Paul Hall out of England running for 90 minutes, Simoes was the darling of Jamaicans, and by the time the team got to France, he was like a god. The Brazilian had come to Jamaica, got them to the finals of the World Cup, and Jamaicans flexed their muscles - so much so that some believed that Jamaica were good enough to beat, not only Croatia, but also Argentina.
While talking about the failure of Jamaica in the Gold Cup, Jamaicans should remember that. They should also remember that the man who was on the sideline during the Gold Cup shouting instructions is the same Rene Simoes who coached the team to the World Cup.
The fact that Simoes coached the team to the World Cup obviously does not mean that he should coach the team forever regardless of results. In deciding whether he stays or goes, however, the fans and the JFF should remember his contribution to Jamaica achieving one of its finest moments in sport, that he is now probably organising his squad for the World Cup qualifying tournament, and, as Tym Glaser, said in The Sunday Gleaner, that his support staff is not what it used to be.
They should also remember that there are more overseas-based players in the Jamaica team, that they are from different clubs, from different divisions of the English league, that they do not play together or see each other play, and that with the players coming in only a few days before a tournament, it is more difficult to prepare them as a unit.
Rene Simoes is not a god, and he is not indispensable. The fact is, however, he came, he delivered, he made Jamaicans believe that they can play football, some are now being paid to play football, and Jamaicans should remember that.
The question which Jamaicans should be asking is this: With so many players from overseas now in the squad and coached by others, is there a need for a top class national coach?
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