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The road ahead for Jamaica's football
Saturday, December 05, 2009
The glitzy draw in Cape Town yesterday of the first-ever FIFA World Cup Finals on continental Africa not only revealed the groupings for South Africa 2010, but also presented a moment for Jamaica's football stakeholders to reflect and look ahead.
Again, and disappointingly, the Reggae Boyz are not numbered among the 32 participating teams in the quadrennial tournament.
It seems a distant memory since Jamaica shocked the world and qualified for their first and only senior World Cup tournament 11 years ago in France.
An inevitable consequence of success back then is that the Boyz are now judged more harshly. Unfortunately, for many of us anything less than qualification is now seen as failure.
However, with the past no more than mere reference points, we must now turn our focus and vigour to Brazil 2014.
But before a worthwhile campaign can be mounted, first there must be serious self-examination of the state of the nation's football.
This newspaper believes that the man currently at the helm -- Captain Horace Burrell -- a successful businessman and marketeer whose vision made the '98 qualification possible still has much to offer, not just to Jamaican and Caribbean football, but also at the level of CONCACAF and FIFA.
We are among those who believe he erred last year when he chose to return to the hero of the 1998 campaign, Brazilian coach Mr Rene Simoes. Readers will recall that Captain Burrell ended up doing an about-turn and firing the Brazilian following his "questionable team selection" policy that led the Boyz down a hopeless path in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF play-offs.
Very soon the issue of coaching will again be on Captain Burrell's agenda. He will need to present a clear policy. Are we going to retain current head coach, Mr Theodore Whitmore, after his one-year contract expires? If not, then his replacement -- foreign or local -- must be given sufficient time to develop a team and an approach to play. In the context of the economic crisis, money will inevitably be a constraining, if not the determining, factor.
On the field of play, the national senior team provided evidence of relatively good organisation in goalless, drawn Friendly Internationals against Ecuador in Philadelphia in August and South Africa in Bloemfontein on November 17. But the offensive game was clearly inadequate.
Mr Whitmore -- a "ball magician" in his heyday as a national midfielder and a two-goal hero in Jamaica's 2-1 win over Japan in France '98 -- has conceded there is a problem. He, like us, realises that the Boyz are missing a creative midfielder.
In the recent past, successive Jamaican senior outfits have paraded midfield players who are generally dribblers, runners and defensive-minded, but none with the exquisite gift of creating for self and others as Mr Whitmore did. Success in finding that special person could well determine Jamaica's fortunes in the 2014 campaign.
Also, there must be emphasis on youth. For the simple truth is that a number of the men who make up the current Boyz's stock will be in their mid-30s or beyond -- way past their best -- when the Brazil World Cup comes around.
So in the interest of continuity, players racing the clock should have understudies to ensure a smooth transition. With that in mind, Jamaican football watchers will be keeping a keen eye on age-group teams in upcoming Caribbean Youth World Cup qualifiers.
We are well aware that the job ahead will be tough and thorny for those directly involved in plotting the Boyz's World Cup repeat at the senior level. We wish them the best.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...IAL-DEC-5-2009
Saturday, December 05, 2009
The glitzy draw in Cape Town yesterday of the first-ever FIFA World Cup Finals on continental Africa not only revealed the groupings for South Africa 2010, but also presented a moment for Jamaica's football stakeholders to reflect and look ahead.
Again, and disappointingly, the Reggae Boyz are not numbered among the 32 participating teams in the quadrennial tournament.
It seems a distant memory since Jamaica shocked the world and qualified for their first and only senior World Cup tournament 11 years ago in France.
An inevitable consequence of success back then is that the Boyz are now judged more harshly. Unfortunately, for many of us anything less than qualification is now seen as failure.
However, with the past no more than mere reference points, we must now turn our focus and vigour to Brazil 2014.
But before a worthwhile campaign can be mounted, first there must be serious self-examination of the state of the nation's football.
This newspaper believes that the man currently at the helm -- Captain Horace Burrell -- a successful businessman and marketeer whose vision made the '98 qualification possible still has much to offer, not just to Jamaican and Caribbean football, but also at the level of CONCACAF and FIFA.
We are among those who believe he erred last year when he chose to return to the hero of the 1998 campaign, Brazilian coach Mr Rene Simoes. Readers will recall that Captain Burrell ended up doing an about-turn and firing the Brazilian following his "questionable team selection" policy that led the Boyz down a hopeless path in the semi-finals of the CONCACAF play-offs.
Very soon the issue of coaching will again be on Captain Burrell's agenda. He will need to present a clear policy. Are we going to retain current head coach, Mr Theodore Whitmore, after his one-year contract expires? If not, then his replacement -- foreign or local -- must be given sufficient time to develop a team and an approach to play. In the context of the economic crisis, money will inevitably be a constraining, if not the determining, factor.
On the field of play, the national senior team provided evidence of relatively good organisation in goalless, drawn Friendly Internationals against Ecuador in Philadelphia in August and South Africa in Bloemfontein on November 17. But the offensive game was clearly inadequate.
Mr Whitmore -- a "ball magician" in his heyday as a national midfielder and a two-goal hero in Jamaica's 2-1 win over Japan in France '98 -- has conceded there is a problem. He, like us, realises that the Boyz are missing a creative midfielder.
In the recent past, successive Jamaican senior outfits have paraded midfield players who are generally dribblers, runners and defensive-minded, but none with the exquisite gift of creating for self and others as Mr Whitmore did. Success in finding that special person could well determine Jamaica's fortunes in the 2014 campaign.
Also, there must be emphasis on youth. For the simple truth is that a number of the men who make up the current Boyz's stock will be in their mid-30s or beyond -- way past their best -- when the Brazil World Cup comes around.
So in the interest of continuity, players racing the clock should have understudies to ensure a smooth transition. With that in mind, Jamaican football watchers will be keeping a keen eye on age-group teams in upcoming Caribbean Youth World Cup qualifiers.
We are well aware that the job ahead will be tough and thorny for those directly involved in plotting the Boyz's World Cup repeat at the senior level. We wish them the best.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/edito...IAL-DEC-5-2009