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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 08 2004 : 08:27:13 AM
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U-23/Olympic: Post-Mortem by BY IAN BURNETT Observer staff reporter
Sunday, February 08, 2004, 6:18:04 AM
IP:24.188.141.129
What went wrong in Mexico?
Sunday, February 08, 2004
When Jamaica's Under-20 football team - the core of the squad that made it to the Under-17 World Cup two years earlier - qualified for the Youth World Cup Finals in Argentina in 2001, the future of our football appeared bright.
In the final qualifying tournament in Victoria, Canada, the Young Reggae Boyz advanced to the World Cup ahead of the region's kingpin, Mexico, as well as Honduras. Trinidad and Tobago, who hosted the other leg, were not even a factor, and I am not trying to be unkind to our Caribbean neighbours.
Three short years later, the Young Boyz have been swamped and embarrassed by Mexico and Costa Rica, while being humiliated by Trinidad and Tobago.
These recent results at the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament in Mexico have understandably raised concerns about the status of our football. One things is clear - WE HAVE REGRESSED - while our rivals HAVE PROGRESSED.
To what do we attribute this totally nauseating performance of our young footballers, some of whom have had the experience of two World Cup finals appearances under their belts?
Coaching strategy and players' capacity for improvement and their interest/commitment to the sport are two factors that I have identified.
Having reasoned, at length, with technical director, Carl Brown, and head coach, Peter Cargill, about football and their philosophies during our many treks across the globe, I have no doubt that they genuinely mean well and want to succeed.
But with all due respect, I must register my dissatisfaction with some areas of their handling of this team. They told us that they had a 'talented' group of players at the start of the campaign. But 0-3, 0-4 and 1-2 results against Costa Rica, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, do not suggest any amount of talent.
Squad selection, and then first team selection appeared to be a huge problem from the outset. For my money, too many 'ordinary' players with limited experience were included in the squad. I can easily identify several who could have been left out of the final squad, but I don't want to appear disparaging to these players, who gave of their best, as inadequate as that might have been at this level.
And I am very cognizant of the importance of 'balance' in any team/squad.
I thought the coaching staff missed the boat when it ignored many players, in whom the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) had invested heavily for a number of years. Sean Fraser, Wolry Wolfe, Fabian Dawkins, Shane Sevens, Sheldon Battiste and Kevon Harris are among those with age-group World Cup Finals experience and some senior team experience under their belts. Lenworth Hyde Jr, arguably the most gifted midfielder at this level available to the country, was left at home, and British-born Jamaican, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, a Charlton Athletic English Premiership professional, apparently snubbed the team following his displeasure at being wasted for much of the time since he was invited to join the team.
Forget about playing excellent team ball. We were never known for that. What we have been known for is our natural athletic ability and our individual flair. Those are our strengths and I don't believe we played to our strengths. We should have included the gifted players and balanced the squad around them as best as possible.
We have given Omar Daley and Keith Kelly loads of experience at the senior level. Between them, they have logged many miles in midfield battle in the national interest, making them the two most experienced midfielders in our team. Yet they were not played together for any significant amount of time!!!. That, to me, is illogical, especially when Daley has been used in various midfield roles in our senior team.
But with all these perceived 'shortcomings' exhibited by the coaching staff, the players themselves must also take responsibility for their mediocre performance in this tournament. Preliminary reports suggest that some of these 'senior' players with all the experience in the world, performed miserably and failed to distinguish themselves. This again is another glaring reminder of how weak our National Premier League really is. These guys dominate at the local level, but have their weaknesses exposed by teams that are organised. They find players that they were ahead of in terms of technical readiness a few years ago now surpassing them in all areas. Some of our players with all these Youth World Cup and senior team experiences have displayed a distinct lack of interest/commitment to international football. Some ignore the preliminary stages of preparation for these age group tournaments, only to surface at crunch time. Whatever the reasons for doing so, this is something that the JFF will have to address because we are losing too many players, in whom the Federation has invested a lot.
One promised emphasis of the successful JFF presidential campaign for Crenston Boxhill was youth development. Well, having been to Mexico to witness the debacle first hand, provides him with an opportunity to channel his energies and that of his Federation in this very critical area of the nation's football development. It just can't remain business as usual.
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Mosiah
Moderator
USA
30 Posts |
Posted - Feb 11 2004 : 09:28:02 AM
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Just thought I would add this article from US Coach Thomas Rongen as he prepares for a tournament.
Thomas Rongen assesses the US U20 men's play in Spain
Courtesy ussoccer.com
(September 4, 2002) - Less than a week after returning from Spain where the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team finished in second place at the C.O.T.I.F XIX Torneig Internacional, U.S. Under-20 head coach Thomas Rongen analyzes his team’s play and what that means as they approach the their CONCACAF qualifying tournament in November in Charleston, S.C. Rongen touches on what was learned at the tournament, what his team still needs to improve on and much more.
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By Thomas Rongen
We had several objectives going into this tournament, especially with this being our last tournament before we start qualifying in November in Charleston.
For us, the most important thing was to identify our top players that we feel can do the job for us in November. I think that we did a good job in finding some consistency among those players, and also seeing that they had some good chemistry.
I think this tournament also showed us that we have the luxury of knowing that our reserves, when their number is called, can respond well. We put them into a tough game against Ukraine in a must-win situation, and they got the job done. That team responded well in that match and continued to respond well when we called on them later in the tournament. Jordan Stone played great against Brazil, and that is just one example.
Looking ahead at picking the final 18 for the qualifying roster, I feel very, very good where we are right now at spots 1-18. I think coming into qualifying all 18 players could potentially step in and do well. It is very nice to see that we have good depth, which you need in all tournaments, especially if you are going to play three highly competitive games in five days.
There are still one to three positions where guys are fighting for starting spots, and the last three spots on the roster are really going to be tough to pick because this team is deeper than 18 players. I think that is a credit to our development going on in this country and it starts at the U-14 level. It will help us on this level and it will continue to help us in this country all the way up to the top level. It shows that we are growing as a soccer nation, and that is important.
We wanted to go into the tournament and not just be happy to be playing in such a great tournament, but we wanted to win. We showed some mental strength against very good opponents. Confidence and a winning mentality you can’t create overnight, and I think the players responded well against good competition. I was very pleased with the way we played.
We took pride in defending as a team, and the players realized that is required at this level. And I think that technically and tactically we were able to compete with a European power like Italy and some of the better South American countries like Brazil and Uruguay. That is going to go a long way in terms of our overall confidence.
I am real happy with how we defended as a team, and I think we can still get better attacking. We need to get our fullbacks more involved going forward. But this trip we really emphasized getting our backs and our goalkeeper – and even our defensive midfielder Ricardo Clark –on the same page. The guys we think are going to be there for qualifying, we wanted them to get games and get in the pressure cooker. I really feel that good defense can win championships. On paper they are all college players, but the way they played against all pros speaks volumes about how far these guys have come, and that was an area where I had some concern.
Up front with Devin Barclay, Santino Quaranta when he gets healthy, Eddie Johnson, Mike Magee, Justin Mapp and Bobby Convey I think we have tremendous talent in the attack, and I feel that in any game we can and will create chances. But the bottom line is putting the ball in the net. We didn’t do that in Houston (U.S. Soccer Festival), but we showed an upward trend in Spain. Our last seven games we have come together as a team and that is really important for a coach of a national team, where you don’t converse with the players and train on a daily basis.
We could not have picked a better tournament to play in, and we couldn’t have played much better. From our point of view we are pleased that this tournament showed us our strengths, and it also showed us our deficiencies. The goal we gave up against Brazil showed that if you make a mistake in that part of the field you can and will get punished at this level. We walked away with some positives, but also some negatives from this tournament. We still can and have to play better. Now we just have to get it done in November.
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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
Posted - Feb 12 2004 : 11:49:51 AM
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This article it also worth putting in the mix. It should give all interested in Jamaica's football a look at areas of omission. Interesting read!
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A Step Back For U.S. Soccer
February 12, 2004
There is not much positive to be taken from the U.S. men's soccer failure to qualify for this summer's Olympic Games.
Tuesday night's 4-0 loss to Mexico by the under-23 national team in Guadalajara was hardly unexpected, but its repercussions extend beyond the result. For the first time in 19 FIFA tournaments, the United States did not advance to the final round. For the first time since 1980 (when the United States boycotted the Moscow Games) there will be no U.S. presence in men's Olympic soccer.
Sure, missing out on Athens will make it easier for national team coach Bruce Arena to plan his World Cup qualifying strategy because DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey and Landon Donovan will not have to spend their summer playing for three teams. But that is hardly compensation for the end of a remarkable streak for American soccer.
And, yes, the American women, who should qualify next month for the Games, may benefit from having all of the attention. But will that be enough to inject real interest into a professional league of their own? Not unless they win a gold medal and get prime-time network treatment.
The senior U.S. national team has never won in Mexico City's famous Estadio Azteca. Some younger teams have achieved results in Mexico, but facing 60,000 fans and a good Mexico team - led by full national team coach Ricardo LaVolpe - was never going to be easy.
`'This is a setback. I think this defeat is significant because we had a great run going,' said Tony DiCicco, who coached the 1996 women's team that won gold in Atlanta.
The 4-0 final score was punishing as was the treatment the U.S. players received as they left the stadium. As the Americans headed for the bus, a crowd began chanting 'Osama! Osama!' in reference to the al-Qaeda leader, forcing police in riot gear to hold them back.
The level of play that U.S. players get between 18 and 23 still must be raised. Not enough of the younger players who sign with MLS get regular playing time and there is still no effective backup vehicle that stretches their games.
'We are casting the net wider every year,' MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis said. 'Ultimately we want full reserve teams and to integrate youth clubs with our clubs. I'm hopeful that it won't be more than a year or two longer.'
The lack of defensive experience in the U-23 tournament was expected, especially when the the United States could not bring Oguchi Onyewu and Alex Yi back because of obligations to their European clubs. The United States started two college players, Chris Wingert from St. John's and Chad Marshall from Stanford. That's asking plenty against the Mexican pros. [ I guess it was asking too much for Jamaica's amateurs too? ]
'You have to give Mexico credit. I don't think we lost the game, I think they came and won it,' said Donovan, who has represented the United States at every age level, including the Olympics and World Cup. 'It's kind of like it didn't happen. ... It's weird. It hasn't really set in yet.'
In light of the Olympic failure, it's important that the United States produce in Amsterdam next week where the national team will play the Netherlands. The next World Cup is in Germany and the Americans have yet to demonstrate they can travel to Europe and defeat good European teams. At the same time, the growth of the U.S. global reputation is fragile. There are always nay-sayers, especially in Europe, ready to point to any defeat at any level and claim, 'I told you so.'
Still, Gazidis says don't make too much of one loss.
'You can read too much into a single result. I think people who are soccer-savvy understand that the last four teams of a CONCACAF qualifying tournament are all good and that good teams are going to be eliminated. Still, it's certainly a disappointment because I think the team could have done well in the Games.'
Information from U.S. Soccer's match report and wire services included.
Associated Press
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TK (Forumite & Jamaican Youth Coach plying his trade in the US)
T.K.
This is a good report...if you want an example of how thin the
Thursday, February 12, 2004, 6:30:07 AM
IP:152.163.253.3
position of defender is in the US right now look at the US's last friendly against Denmark where they had to use Bobby Convey and Chris Albright as wingbacks. Theses two are normally outside halfs amd Chris Albright is barely in the national pool. It goes to show that once they go past the top four in the backline they are downright in trouble.
This is not just a U23 problem this is a country wide issue. For those who go to the coaching courses in the US or talk to most D1 college coaches they say that the biggest flaw that their players come into their programs with is their inability to defend well. It is non-existent.
It is something that we youth coaches in the states have failed the young players to this point and it has finally caught up to the national sides. I know that the NSCAA has placed more emphasis on teaching the principles of defending to young players so that the next generation is better prepared.
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Karl |
Edited by - Karl on Feb 12 2004 12:52:59 PM |
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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
Posted - Feb 15 2004 : 12:05:39 PM
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Cargill
Cargill ponders fate
Sunday, February 15, 2004, 5:28:05 AM
IP:151.205.177.71
Cargill ponders fate
published: Sunday | February 15, 2004
Cargill
Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor
PETER CARGILL is a man under the gun. The National Under-23 team's failure to qualify for the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece this summer has placed the coach in that territory.
If he survives, he'll accept it. If not, he'll move on knowing fully well he doesn't have a choice.
Confirming his tenuous situation, Cargill said: 'We're always in a job where when the team loses it's the coach's fault and when the team wins the players are good.
'That's the type of job we're in, sadly and unfortunately. But I know that and as long as the JFF does not give me official notice then I'll continue to do my work.'
That includes preparing Jamaica's teams for international competitions like the Under-23s of which much was anticipated in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying finals in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Participation at junior World Cup finals - Under-17 and Under-20 - ahead of this same field strengthened belief for similar success.
Only distress came with 3-0, 4-0 and 2-1 losses to Costa Rica, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago respectively.
'We did the best that we could do. The players performed especially well in the second game against Mexico, even though we went down to 10 men, we showed a lot of determination.'
Sweeper Shavar Thomas, a senior team member and captain, was red carded after only five minutes and Mexico scored from the resulting spot kick off what the coaching staff called a 'questionable' penalty. Two other goals came swiftly, and the fourth inside the final minute. But there were no excuses for the other games.
'In the first and third games we didn't do ourselves justice ... in how we performed,' revealed Cargill.
SHOWED US UP
'I think the biggest problem is our experience competing at that level. That's the highest level in CONCACAF, our experience playing and competing at that level showed us up,' he said.
The team played practise games leading into the final but Cargill said the opponents, but for one, never provided quality competition.
'I think in our preparation we did the best we could ... the federation did well in getting us to the eastern Caribbean and that training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida also did us good.
'Overall, we played 23 games or so since the CAC Games but the only time we competed against any opponent of that (high) calibre was when we played against Canada in Fort Lauderdale. Still, it was a good experience for our group.'
On that list numbered five representatives from previous forages by Jamaica's juveniles to the World Cup, attracting questions re selection.
'Right throughout the programme, from we played the first game against Cuba, people had been questioning our selections,' Cargill said.
'We're working with the teams and we think we carried the best team to help Jamaica. Questions will always be there as to why we didn't carry this one and why we carried this one but we're the coaches, that's why we're the coaches, we're the ones who have been working with them.'
And what about development?
'The people who Shavar (Thomas) played against in the World Cup in Argentina, a lot of them are playing in the top leagues around the world, in Italy, Germany, France,' Cargill pointed out. 'It's not about how many World Cups you've played in, it's what you're doing now. Look at the progress that they have made and where we are. That's football.'
Mexico and Costa Rica both qualified, and the United States with five World Cup players were thumped 4-0 by Mexico, facts not lost on Cargill but should that save his neck?
'Look ... they have facilities, culture and history. How long has the World Cup been going on and how many times have we qualified?' he asked rhetorically.
'Our players are amateurs and pros are expected to carry their A game every time. That's what we need to learn.'
A veteran midfielder on the Reggae Boyz team that have played in the only World Cup finals for this country, he added: 'In 98 we played almost 50 games a year and 80-90 per cent of the team lived in Jamaica. But now 80-90 per cent lives abroad. So we've to choose our path carefully. We need to take a stock and look at where we are, what we're doing. Then we'd be in a better position to make criticisms,' he said.
NOT THE PUBLIC'S CHOICE
The average man on the street doesn't see it that way. Even then, whether Cargill stays or goes it is not the public's choice and the people making the call are in no rush.
'We haven't got all the reports as yet,' chairman of the JFF's technical committee, Andrew Price, told The Gleaner of the influential statements to be furnished for the case. 'As soon as we get them in we are going to meet. I want us to meet and do things formally and properly.'
Price's committee can almost recommend action. Ultimately though, it is the federation's new president, Crenston Boxhill who, by himself or with his officers, will make the judgement.
For now, 'we haven't made a decision,' admitted Boxhill when queried at the Friday's deadline announced earlier in the week.
'As soon as we reach a position we'll make a comment on that. Now we have no comment to make. The situation remains the same.'
Cargill remains under the gun
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U-23/Olympic - Post Mortem (2004)
