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Tactical flaw! - Burrell says club ballers should form base of U-20 squad
Published: Thursday | April 11, 2013
Burrell
Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter
CAPTAIN Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), is of the view that until most of the players making up the national Under-20 squad are members of clubs, the country will continue to struggle in age-group World Cup qualifying.
"As it relates to the Under-20s, Jamaica is at a tremendous disadvantage compared to all the Central American and North American countries," Burrell said in the aftermath of the juvenile team's failure to advance from the CONCACAF Finals in February, as they sought qualification to the World Cup.
"In the recently concluded Under-20 championships the major difference between the Jamaica Under-20 team that participated in that tournament and the players from the likes of Panama, Mexico and Costa Rica was that all those players were professionals in clubs," noted Burrell.
"Most of our players were schoolboys, who even travelled with a tutor, while some of the players on the other teams had their coaching staff from their clubs.
"So what you had were schoolboys competing against professionals, which will never work," Burrell asserted. "At the Under-17 level it is different, as most of the boys are in high school, so it will be more competitive.
"But at the Under-20 level, unless we change the way we look at football development and select players who are already in clubs playing football in a professional manner for these tournaments, we are not going to do well."
In spite of failing to guide Jamaica's national Under-20 team to the Finals, head coach Luciano Gama has not suffered the same fate as his father.
In January, former JFF technical director, Walter Gama, and then goalkeeping coach Armando Bracali, were fired after the senior team's disastrous Caribbean Football Union campaign.
The Gamas had taken up their respective post in May 2011, with Bracali arriving at a later date.
With the Under-20 team out of action, young Gama has been given additional responsibilities, as he is once again working with the women's programme and is also now the chief scout for its senior team.
"We did some shifting around, as he (Luciano Gama) used to be with the women's team at one point, so he is going to continue to help with the women, coordinate the youth programmes and he is also the chief scout who goes out before games and reports back to the staff," the JFF president revealed to The Gleaner.
ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...s/sports4.html
'... the major difference between the Jamaica Under-20 team that participated in that tournament and the players from the likes of Panama, Mexico and Costa Rica was that all those players were professionals in clubs.'
Published: Thursday | April 11, 2013
Burrell
Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter
CAPTAIN Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), is of the view that until most of the players making up the national Under-20 squad are members of clubs, the country will continue to struggle in age-group World Cup qualifying.
"As it relates to the Under-20s, Jamaica is at a tremendous disadvantage compared to all the Central American and North American countries," Burrell said in the aftermath of the juvenile team's failure to advance from the CONCACAF Finals in February, as they sought qualification to the World Cup.
"In the recently concluded Under-20 championships the major difference between the Jamaica Under-20 team that participated in that tournament and the players from the likes of Panama, Mexico and Costa Rica was that all those players were professionals in clubs," noted Burrell.
"Most of our players were schoolboys, who even travelled with a tutor, while some of the players on the other teams had their coaching staff from their clubs.
"So what you had were schoolboys competing against professionals, which will never work," Burrell asserted. "At the Under-17 level it is different, as most of the boys are in high school, so it will be more competitive.
"But at the Under-20 level, unless we change the way we look at football development and select players who are already in clubs playing football in a professional manner for these tournaments, we are not going to do well."
In spite of failing to guide Jamaica's national Under-20 team to the Finals, head coach Luciano Gama has not suffered the same fate as his father.
In January, former JFF technical director, Walter Gama, and then goalkeeping coach Armando Bracali, were fired after the senior team's disastrous Caribbean Football Union campaign.
The Gamas had taken up their respective post in May 2011, with Bracali arriving at a later date.
With the Under-20 team out of action, young Gama has been given additional responsibilities, as he is once again working with the women's programme and is also now the chief scout for its senior team.
"We did some shifting around, as he (Luciano Gama) used to be with the women's team at one point, so he is going to continue to help with the women, coordinate the youth programmes and he is also the chief scout who goes out before games and reports back to the staff," the JFF president revealed to The Gleaner.
ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...s/sports4.html
'... the major difference between the Jamaica Under-20 team that participated in that tournament and the players from the likes of Panama, Mexico and Costa Rica was that all those players were professionals in clubs.'
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