Influx of dual nationals proves to be Whitmore's undoing

[Zeppo]

Influx of dual nationals proves to be Theodore Whitmore's undoing for Jamaica in Hexagonal

What went wrong for Theodore Whitmore?

"Results" are the obvious answer. The now-former Jamaican national team manager was flying high in 2012, guiding his team to second place in their third round qualifying group, including a memorable win over the US.

2013 has been much less kind, with the Reggae Boyz dead last, winless and - now - coachless in the Hexagonal.

The biggest and most obvious change from one year to the next was the personnel. Whitmore's success came with a largely MLS-based roster in the previous round of World Cup qualifying, but after a poor showing in December's Digicel Caribbean Cup, he reached across the pond for much of his current group.

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[Lionpaw]

anyway to plug the weak azz MLS right? Jermaine Taylor and Lovel Palmer are 2 of our worst defenders and they thrive in MLS.

[Gamma]

But more than that long time him nuh post suh much and it is to gloat. I watching him carefully...this is not necessarily a democracy

[Stonigut]

Pointless article, the real issue was playing woodbine, Gordon and Powell at the same time we would have won one of two matches or worst case draw both at home if we had the lineup from the Mexico Azteca match. You cannot play three newbies in the two most critical matches of the campaign especially when you only had two points from the first three matches. With a win and two draws in the middle three game stretch we would be sitting at seven points and still in the mix.

[Tilla]

the real issue was playing woodbine, Gordon and Powell at the same time

I agree with this. Three newcomers in the defense really hurt us. Teams do not easily overcome such drastic change at such a critical point in the competition. With three starting defenders out due to injury, it exposed our lack of depth when we had to hurriedly shuffle and put together a defense to take on the strongest teams in our confederation. We are doing all of this as well without giving the players a chance to develop some chemistry by playing some friendlies together.

[Mosiah]

So, which players would you have used?

[Gamma]

Tbat is not the point mosiah, they used the best available options. But when huh not SCORING that puts more pressure on the defense

[Stonigut]

Well what I advocated when I heard that is what they wanted to do previously the mex game I said pull elliott out of d mid and place at right back which he has some experience at, also asked for Evan Taylor to play d mid with Austin and Omar Daley at to shore up Powell on the flank on which he played. That is what I would have done. Woodbine turned out o me to be the worst of the three due to his lack of response in a few critical situations on the marking side.

[Don1]

This does not compute.

There is little info to suggest that the back line used in the 1st Mexico game would have made for draws or wins vs Honduras away or US & Mexico at home. Since the back line used the immediately following games vs Panama and Costa Rica was mostly the same as in Mexico 1...and given that we saw poor performances in defensive positioning and communication against those VERY ordinary teams, it's more reasonable to believe that the 1st Mexico performance was an outlier... an indicator merely of potential.

One should use outliers as benchmarks of best case possibilities ...
but not to project actual or even probable results

[Mosiah]

But of the three, Woodbine has the most experience at this level. So your theory is shot! IMO!

[Stonigut]

There is no certainty but the goals given up against Mexico and USA in my opinion would have had a better chance of being quashed by the regular back line or even a slightly altered one with more big game experience and chemistry.

Regardless of that too many weaknesses overall to say that would mean a different overall result like us getting to WC 2014

[Stonigut]

It is not about just pure experience, woodbine has been out of the running for a long time, Gordon is a central defender and Powell has been playing with this squad for a significant period of time. So their is context and layers even to the understanding of what experience is in this case.

[Don1]

The only experience that matters is what we see on the field and the results.

That experience does not support your postulations

[Don1]

Stoni... much as you would appear to prefer to ignore the obvious reality it remains..... obvious.

A so called team composed of relative strangers thrown together a few weeks before and in some cases during competition is very unlikely to consistently do well in the pressure cooker environment of WCQ.

That is Jamaica's fatal error that for obvious reasons you and others refuse to acknowledge ... preferring to ascribe the failures to this or that marginal player selections by the coach.

The critical point of failure is not Tappa ... it's the strategy of last minute imports to attempt forming a team for WCQ.... this hurry come up approach is obviously not a prescription for success

[Peter R]

...and as Karl (or someone else) pointed out the lack of match preparation! How could we have entered this triumvirate of matches having played only Tottenham as a warm up??? meanwhile our opponents played a number of matches against high quality opposition... what was the "top (br)ass" thinking???