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Headaches for 'Tappa' Whitmore
Player no-shows in Brazil add to coach's anxiety
IAN BURNETT WITH THE REGGAE BOYZ in Brazil
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
SAO PAULO, Brazil — The nine-day training camp here at the Traffic Football Academy in Sao Paulo for Jamaica's Reggae Boyz has just begun, but the headaches for head coach Theodore Whitmore continues.
From the onset, injuries affected his original 23-man roster, forcing last-minute reshuffling and resulting in only 17 of the 23 selected players being able to attend the training camp, which ends on June 1, when the team departs to Los Angeles, California for its first game in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament on June 6.
Of the remaining lot, only six (plus as many team officials) arrived here yesterday morning after departing Jamaica on Monday afternoon.
And Whitmore is unsure when the other 11 players will join the group, especially with a game scheduled against the Luiz Felipe Scolari's Palmeiras on Friday, here at Traffic Academy.
It is expected that some players will arrive here today, while the rest could get in by tomorrow.
Last evening, Whitmore was left a concerned man, especially after a lack of adequate preparation was cited as a major cause of the team's failed bid in the 2009 edition of the Gold Cup, when the Boyz failed to advance from the preliminary stage.
"Well, I'm very concerned at the moment," Whitmore told the Observer. "We have six players here and I can't guarantee when the other 11 players will join us. We are still having flight problems with them to get over, so I think this could put a damper on the Gold Cup preparation."
The six players now in Brazil are Omar Daley, Keammar Daley, Navion Boyd, Adrian Reid, Richard Edwards and Eric Vernan. Those who will not make the training camp but will join the team in Los Angeles are Donovan Ricketts, Jermaine Taylor, Omar Cummings, Dicoy Williams, Jevaughn Watson and the recalled veteran Tyrone Marshall.
Whitmore, the former Reggae Boyz captain, had vouched not to repeat the mistakes of the past, but now he's left clinging onto hopes.
"At this moment I just have to hope to get the players here to start preparing. We are not really concentrating too much on the practise games, though they are important, as the aim is to get the players here so that we can work on a few things going into the Gold Cup," he said.
The players expected to arrive over the next few days are Duwayne Kerr, Dwayne Miller, Demar Phillips, Luton Shelton, Damion Williams, Shavar Thomas, Dane Richards, Ryan Johnson, Rudolph Austin, Jason Morrison and veteran Ian 'Pepe' Goodison.
And due to the strike action of the air traffic controllers in Jamaica, the team's American Airlines flight from Kingston to Miami International Airport was delayed by more than an hour and the team missed its connecting flight to Sao Paulo.
Luckily, there were enough seats to accommodate the 12-man party on another flight an hour later. But when the group arrived at the Traffic Academy in Sao Paulo, they discovered that a few pieces of the team's uniform, as well as medicine, were missing.
Those challenges apart, it was immediately down to business, as the small group was players were taken through a recovery session in the gymnasium and the pool by assistant coach Alfredo Montesso, who met the team on arrival at Traffic Academy.
At last things began to fall into place for Whitmore.
"That went well, we went into the gym and followed that up with the swimming pool in a recovery session... So we have started but we need to get the other players so that everything goes right for the Gold Cup.
"We have prepared a programme before we came here so we know exactly what we are going to work with, but now we have to reshuffle because of the situation with travel arrangements.
"If the remaining players get here by the latest Thursday (tomorrow), we will have to play the game because a lot has been put into arranging it, and we have been to Germany and play the same day, so we can do it. This is the life of a professional footballer, so we just have to get on with the job."
The delegation is completed by Howard McIntosh, team administratior and chairman of the Technical committee; Raymond Anderson, head of delegation; Whitmore; Warren Barrett, goalkeeper coach; Dr Carlton Fraser, team doctor and Norman Stone, equipment manager.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz1NM7w3yM2
Player no-shows in Brazil add to coach's anxiety
IAN BURNETT WITH THE REGGAE BOYZ in Brazil
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
SAO PAULO, Brazil — The nine-day training camp here at the Traffic Football Academy in Sao Paulo for Jamaica's Reggae Boyz has just begun, but the headaches for head coach Theodore Whitmore continues.
From the onset, injuries affected his original 23-man roster, forcing last-minute reshuffling and resulting in only 17 of the 23 selected players being able to attend the training camp, which ends on June 1, when the team departs to Los Angeles, California for its first game in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament on June 6.
Of the remaining lot, only six (plus as many team officials) arrived here yesterday morning after departing Jamaica on Monday afternoon.
And Whitmore is unsure when the other 11 players will join the group, especially with a game scheduled against the Luiz Felipe Scolari's Palmeiras on Friday, here at Traffic Academy.
It is expected that some players will arrive here today, while the rest could get in by tomorrow.
Last evening, Whitmore was left a concerned man, especially after a lack of adequate preparation was cited as a major cause of the team's failed bid in the 2009 edition of the Gold Cup, when the Boyz failed to advance from the preliminary stage.
"Well, I'm very concerned at the moment," Whitmore told the Observer. "We have six players here and I can't guarantee when the other 11 players will join us. We are still having flight problems with them to get over, so I think this could put a damper on the Gold Cup preparation."
The six players now in Brazil are Omar Daley, Keammar Daley, Navion Boyd, Adrian Reid, Richard Edwards and Eric Vernan. Those who will not make the training camp but will join the team in Los Angeles are Donovan Ricketts, Jermaine Taylor, Omar Cummings, Dicoy Williams, Jevaughn Watson and the recalled veteran Tyrone Marshall.
Whitmore, the former Reggae Boyz captain, had vouched not to repeat the mistakes of the past, but now he's left clinging onto hopes.
"At this moment I just have to hope to get the players here to start preparing. We are not really concentrating too much on the practise games, though they are important, as the aim is to get the players here so that we can work on a few things going into the Gold Cup," he said.
The players expected to arrive over the next few days are Duwayne Kerr, Dwayne Miller, Demar Phillips, Luton Shelton, Damion Williams, Shavar Thomas, Dane Richards, Ryan Johnson, Rudolph Austin, Jason Morrison and veteran Ian 'Pepe' Goodison.
And due to the strike action of the air traffic controllers in Jamaica, the team's American Airlines flight from Kingston to Miami International Airport was delayed by more than an hour and the team missed its connecting flight to Sao Paulo.
Luckily, there were enough seats to accommodate the 12-man party on another flight an hour later. But when the group arrived at the Traffic Academy in Sao Paulo, they discovered that a few pieces of the team's uniform, as well as medicine, were missing.
Those challenges apart, it was immediately down to business, as the small group was players were taken through a recovery session in the gymnasium and the pool by assistant coach Alfredo Montesso, who met the team on arrival at Traffic Academy.
At last things began to fall into place for Whitmore.
"That went well, we went into the gym and followed that up with the swimming pool in a recovery session... So we have started but we need to get the other players so that everything goes right for the Gold Cup.
"We have prepared a programme before we came here so we know exactly what we are going to work with, but now we have to reshuffle because of the situation with travel arrangements.
"If the remaining players get here by the latest Thursday (tomorrow), we will have to play the game because a lot has been put into arranging it, and we have been to Germany and play the same day, so we can do it. This is the life of a professional footballer, so we just have to get on with the job."
The delegation is completed by Howard McIntosh, team administratior and chairman of the Technical committee; Raymond Anderson, head of delegation; Whitmore; Warren Barrett, goalkeeper coach; Dr Carlton Fraser, team doctor and Norman Stone, equipment manager.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz1NM7w3yM2