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The challenge Mr Simoes faces
Monday, February 04, 2008
Jamaica's qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Finals in France will forever be remembered as among our greatest achievements in sport.
For that reason, Mr Rene Simoes, the Brazilian coach who partnered the visionary Captain Horace Burrell in guiding Jamaica down that long, glorious and at times torturous road, is a Jamaican hero.
Fourteen years after his arrival to take on the 'Road to France' campaign, Mr Simoes is back, older and presumably wiser, intent on making the Reggae Boyz a repeat World Cup qualifier.
His first big test on the road to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa comes on Ash Wednesday, when the Reggae Boyz face perennial CONCACAF powerhouse and multiple World Cup qualifiers, Costa Rica in a friendly international at the National Stadium.
A second test comes next month when the Boyz will face sister Caricom nation Trinidad and Tobago in another 'friendly' that for reasons of tradition and regional rivalry will inevitably be much more.
The majority of those who trek to the stadium on Wednesday and again next month will be keen to see signs that the Reggae Boyz are playing high quality football ahead of the 'Back to Africa' campaign. Naturally, they will be keen for the Reggae Boyz to win even as they did late last year against Central American nations, El Salvador and Guatemala under interim coach, Mr Theodore Whitmore.
Those with a more discerning eye for football will also be inquisitively probing team tactics and strategies. They will want to know, how if at all Mr Simoes, the coach, has evolved in the years since he left here.
Of course, for Mr Simoes, the challenges this time around are qualitatively different. In 1994 Jamaica had no tradition of success in international football, though by then, the national team under the indefatigable Mr Carl Brown had won the regional tournament (once) and had even secured a totally unexpected third place in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
In the very amateur, Cinderella-like atmosphere of Jamaican football at the time, Mr Simoes developed an understandably paternalistic, at times almost patronising relationship with players. Certainly, that was the case until some British-born professionals joined the campaign late on.
He should take much of the credit for the fact that this time around, from the very start, many, if not most of the players on whom he must depend are confident, relatively well-paid professionals operating predominantly out of Britain and North America.
Even the local-based players are for the most part semi-professional and professional - several having migratory relationships with clubs overseas.
The analysts will be watching closely to see how Mr Simoes copes with the relatively short time he has to stamp his personality and method. Last time he had well over a year to prepare for his first qualifier - a 1-0 win over Suriname in Paramaribo. This time, just five months remain until the Reggae Boyz go up against the British Virgin Islands or The Bahamas.
For each game, this time around, Mr Simoes will have very little time to settle and 'blend' his overseas professionals, a very different scenario from the 1990s when the core of his team was local-based.
His success will depend heavily on his capacity to adjust to these and many other challenges. We wish him well.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Jamaica's qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Finals in France will forever be remembered as among our greatest achievements in sport.
For that reason, Mr Rene Simoes, the Brazilian coach who partnered the visionary Captain Horace Burrell in guiding Jamaica down that long, glorious and at times torturous road, is a Jamaican hero.
Fourteen years after his arrival to take on the 'Road to France' campaign, Mr Simoes is back, older and presumably wiser, intent on making the Reggae Boyz a repeat World Cup qualifier.
His first big test on the road to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa comes on Ash Wednesday, when the Reggae Boyz face perennial CONCACAF powerhouse and multiple World Cup qualifiers, Costa Rica in a friendly international at the National Stadium.
A second test comes next month when the Boyz will face sister Caricom nation Trinidad and Tobago in another 'friendly' that for reasons of tradition and regional rivalry will inevitably be much more.
The majority of those who trek to the stadium on Wednesday and again next month will be keen to see signs that the Reggae Boyz are playing high quality football ahead of the 'Back to Africa' campaign. Naturally, they will be keen for the Reggae Boyz to win even as they did late last year against Central American nations, El Salvador and Guatemala under interim coach, Mr Theodore Whitmore.
Those with a more discerning eye for football will also be inquisitively probing team tactics and strategies. They will want to know, how if at all Mr Simoes, the coach, has evolved in the years since he left here.
Of course, for Mr Simoes, the challenges this time around are qualitatively different. In 1994 Jamaica had no tradition of success in international football, though by then, the national team under the indefatigable Mr Carl Brown had won the regional tournament (once) and had even secured a totally unexpected third place in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
In the very amateur, Cinderella-like atmosphere of Jamaican football at the time, Mr Simoes developed an understandably paternalistic, at times almost patronising relationship with players. Certainly, that was the case until some British-born professionals joined the campaign late on.
He should take much of the credit for the fact that this time around, from the very start, many, if not most of the players on whom he must depend are confident, relatively well-paid professionals operating predominantly out of Britain and North America.
Even the local-based players are for the most part semi-professional and professional - several having migratory relationships with clubs overseas.
The analysts will be watching closely to see how Mr Simoes copes with the relatively short time he has to stamp his personality and method. Last time he had well over a year to prepare for his first qualifier - a 1-0 win over Suriname in Paramaribo. This time, just five months remain until the Reggae Boyz go up against the British Virgin Islands or The Bahamas.
For each game, this time around, Mr Simoes will have very little time to settle and 'blend' his overseas professionals, a very different scenario from the 1990s when the core of his team was local-based.
His success will depend heavily on his capacity to adjust to these and many other challenges. We wish him well.