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Jamaica is Still Waiting to Exhale
With two wins now in the bag, and one more to go against a demotivated Canada, Jamaica’s chances of advancing to the Hexagon look more promising than a month ago. Without a doubt, “Tappa” Whitmore must be given full credit for getting us to this position and must be allowed to continue. The players have responded tremendously well under his guidance and now the cries from the many pundits are that the decision to recall Rene Simoes as Head Coach was a wrong one. Even though the results may support those that are of the opinion that his recall was wrong, I will still hold onto my view that Burrell’s decision to bring him back was right.
If we revisit Jamaica’s state of football a year ago, we will remember that we all agreed that our football needed to change course, and change course fast. Here we were, an impoverished nation, paying a coach US$83K per month. That is almost twice the amount of annual salary that the average American makes. Bora spent more time in his adopted homeland, Mexico, than he did in Jamaica. He attended few of our local games, and he committed the cardinal sin by making the comment that our FIFA rankings were not important. That showed a lack of respect and understanding of your employer’s and our players’ needs. It has now come to past that our low FIFA rankings have affected the country’s and our Boyz earning powers. Thank you Bora. That situation was untenable and had to change immediately. Burrell, following up on his pre-election mandate, appointed Simoes as Head Coach, specifically with the task of getting us to WC 2010. Burrell had already secured his investors prior to his reelection. He knew that these investors would only support the program and the WCQ campaign only if there was an internationally recognizable coach in charge. This was the biggest challenge that Burrell faced from the onset. Having made his appointment, he now had to stick with his decision and give Simoes his fair run. There was absolutely no way Jamaica could have paid some of the “name brand” coaches that were being brandished in the press and given the fans’ greed for instant gratifications, he had to go with someone whom we could afford and had some form of a reputation. Why not reassemble the “old” team that got us to the Promise Land before? It made perfect sense.
Unfortunately, for Burrell, history will show that his charge failed us miserably. What worked for us in the 98 campaign did not work this time around. Simoes reminds me of an old boxer who had past his prime and refused to quit the game. His tactics and selections were outdated and it proved the fact that his time away from the CONCACAF region was too long. He showed a lack of knowledge firstly in the tremendous growth in technical abilities and skill of our homegrown overseas players by his non-selection of some of those players. Secondly, because of his ignorance of the Jamaican players, he misjudged the improvements made by our Caribbean neighbors and the lesser Central American teams who had copied his own strategy of using overseas-based players to improve their teams. He also failed to appreciate the fact that even though Mexico still remains a major force in CONCACAF, the other teams like USA, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago and Panama no longer fear them and hold them in awe as before. The average Jamaican fan knows that we now have the players that under the proper guidance, can beat the two powerhouse teams in CONCACAF, namely, the USA and Mexico. Simoes said it publicly, but judging from his tactics employed in the Canada and especially in the Mexico game, he never showed that he believed that Jamaica could beat these teams in their backyards. So now we are left with “what ifs”.
Again, Burrell is faced with a sticky predicament of how to utilize John Barnes whom he has already appointed as Head Coach, and “Tappa” Whitmore whom is yet to fail. It would be seen by many as a serious case of injustice and a rather silly move to remove “Tappa” from his role or even to inject Barnes into the camp with our situation so precariously poised. “Tappa” has been able to motivate our players and has gotten them to be playing at their best where Simoes, who is well known for his motivational skills, has failed. Over the last two matches, we have seen our Boyz playing with the same, and in some cases, more verve, vigor, and commitment that they do for their foreign clubs, than we have ever seen them before. I am pleased to see Fuller and Shelton running 30, 40 yards back into the midfield to tackle the opponents. I am equally ecstatic to see Jamaal Campbell-Ryce, a UB40 at that, using his blistering speed and skills to completely control the right-hand side of the field both in attack and in defense. I am excited to know that the coach will have a headache to determine who he will start in Omar Daley or Rudolph Austin. Omar Daley had an outstanding game last night, and Oneil “Bigga” Thompson did an admirable job as the holding midfielder. I am overjoyed at the performances of our defensive unit in the former “Cane-Cutter” Claude Davis, the “Granny” Tyrone Marshall and “Father Time” himself, Ian “Pepe” Goodison. Ricardo “Bibi” Gardener will never see that wing-back position again for Jamaica especially after the outstanding performances of Demar Phillips. Should the coach re-insert Marlon King instead of Luton Shelton for the Canada game? Despite Shelton’s most annoying flaw of his lack of a good first touch, he has done admirably well in keeping the opposing defenders on the back foot with his blazing speed and initiating our defending from the front. Does the coach start King, a proven goal scorer with an excellent first touch, and risk disrupting the chemistry of the team? Come November 19, all these questions will be answered. Until then, Jamaica is Still Waiting to Exhale.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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