Prior to sunday I didn't even think

[Siya]

...we had all the ingredients and the conditions to qualify... Guess I was in dream land...

Dreamland?

Well I expressed the opinion that we had not had a proper preparation and the cards where we would not qualify. It is amazing that we can so close - missing so many chances on goal in the two matches we lost by a goal.

...I went on knees hoping we would qualify...but, I had "heart in mouth" as I wondered out loud on possible embarassment at the World Championships Final...if...by chance we made it.

It was simple to me if you do not prepare properly...then, you have prepared diligently...to fail!

We did not prepare well. I will not blame David Hunt and the TEAM. If those who must give the kids the practise environment...the, as teachers name it...the exercise to reinforce after having taught the concepts...then the children will never be able to put in practise what was "shown" to them.

David Hunt obviously - by Mosiah's account: The kids showed they were introduced to 'the how' to play the game in cameo spurts during games. - taught but the exercise to reinforce what was taught (practise...regular practise...against quality international opponents) was never done!

We reaped what we worked at...FAILURE! I put the blame where it must lie...on those who should have arranged reinforcement exercises...the 'steady diet of matches against quality international opponents..the JFF!

[Naminirt]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

what eva that little lucky spell you all had is gone

[Sir X]

The 'Hunt' that never was!..I Burnett

The 'Hunt' that never was!

Ian Burnett, Sports Editor
Wednesday, May 09, 2007



Under-17 coach David Hunt
IT took less than 15 minutes for the warning signals to go off in my head during Jamaica's Under-17 footballers' opening contest against Canada in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Series two Saturdays ago.

For what I had seen up till then was almost criminal, to say the least. I was stunned into disbelief and was utterly disappointed. I thought it was an insult to my football intelligence.

In the year 2007 I was watching a Jamaican outfit totally bereft of structure, shape and balance, which are basic ingredients to compete at the international level. I was watching a ragged team.

By the end of the game, and the eventual 0-3 drubbing, the surprise had waned.

It is my view that this was the worst Jamaican national team performance at any level, in terms of structure, I had seen since Brazilian Rene Simoes arrived here back in 1994. This I put down to a lack of quality coaching, and the fact that head coach David Hunt has since resigned is of little significance at this time.

Mr Hunt had stated repeatedly that his team was well prepared and was given the necessary support from the JFF, a unit that the present administrators had invested in heavily. In fact, he exuded so much confidence, it became infectious.
And even to the end of the tournament, he continued to express delight with the team's performance, notwithstanding the flagrant deficiencies, including the rudiments of the game.

So stunned was I that I had planned to pen a commentary predicting gloom and doom, but thought better of it on the advice of my colleagues, who argued that the Young Boyz could have been overcome by the magnitude of the occasion here at home.

I acceded, but was not totally convinced by the arguments put forward. I could not fathom a national team being so disorganised, especially after being together for over two years, and living together since January. There was absolutely no excuse.

I became more convinced that the lack of proper coaching was the root cause of the team's problems at the end of the second game (a 0-1 loss to Costa Rica), after yet another aimless performance.

Coach Hunt, in a post-game interview, told reporters that he thought the game was evenly contested and that the "players did most of what was asked of them".

That statement, to me, was poignant. For it was either confirming my belief that Hunt was out of his league, or that he was being disingenuous.

I gave him a second chance to elucidate his point. Thus, I asked him if he was satisfied with the tactical discipline of his team. His somewhat measured response was: "I am satisfied with the effort of the players."

I told him I did not ask him about the "effort" of the players, but the "tactical discipline", and again, in an even more measured tone, he said: "I am happy with the effort of the players."

I, too, was happy with the "effort" of the players. In fact, I thought they went through the entire tournament on "effort", but at this level, "effort" without direction will get a national team nowhere.

Work commitments kept me away from the game against the US, but I listened to the commentary on the radio. And from all accounts, nothing changed. It was clear the Boyz had no direction; they just operated on guts, commitment and a bit of individualism. Finally, the ball bounced in our favour for the last quarter hour and the team managed to snatch three goals to create an historic win.

But from the end of the second round of games, there was no doubt in my mind that we were the fifth best organised team in the tournament, thus the main reason we were struggling. Oh, by the way, only five teams participated.

Against Trinidad and Tobago, we created numerous chances, and on another day, would easily have run away winners. But despite looking inferior in a man-to-man match-up, the team in red and black was clearly better coached.

At the end of the tournament, it became clear that had the Jamaican players been taught the fundamentals of the game - not just by Hunt, but generally - they would have advanced to South Korea with the minimum of fuss. The group appeared to have had enough quality to be among the 24 countries heading for the Asian country.

The youngsters, who have toiled so hard and have given so much, have a right to feel cheated. They were let down because they were fed a diet of 'coaching', instead of teaching. It is across the board at all levels. The lack of proper coaching (teaching the roles and functions of the game), continues to be the cancer that is stagnating the nation's football.

Like so many patriotic and optimistic Jamaicans, without seeing the team perform, I, too, had thought a second appearance at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup was a mere formality, with all that had happened leading up to the final round here on home soil.

There was hardly anyone who could have questioned the wisdom of the JFF to appoint Hunt as head coach about 15 months ago.

For at that time, he had reeled off a string of impressive results with his club, Meadhaven United, collecting trophies with units at the Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20 levels, including an unprecedented three titles (Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17) in one year. Added to that, the Kingston College old boy guided his alma mater's arch rivals, Calabar High School, to glory in the prestigious Manning Cup competition, and all-island OIivier Shield triumph. It was Calabar's first taste of victory in 28 years.

Unfortunately, at Jamaica's stage of development, a lot of people are carried away with the winning of trophies and titles, but miss the fundamentals of team structure, shape, balance and co-ordination in both attack and defence.
Clearly, had that been a regular feature at all levels of our football, the programme would have been much, much farther ahead. We need to take stock.

[Reggae-Fan]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

of the possibility of losing to Trinidad in that last match. I just assumed it would be business as usual we had a very talented team that had righted the ship at the last moment and would be marching in style to Korea... I see the blame game has begun but I honestly cant join in as I thought we had all the ingredients and the conditions to qualify... Guess I was in dream land...

So if we had all the ingredients and conditions to qualify...what went wrong then? Do we place the blame squarely on the player's shoulders?

Boxhill and his crew were stabding by to brag and show off had the team made it...so therefore, I will not hesitate for a moment to highlight the things that they neglected.

By the way, while we were content with playing Mexico for our warm up prior to the final round, the same T&T that got the better of us were busy preparing, playing the same Mexico twice, Honduras away twice, and Venezuela.

[Sir X]

Re: The 'Hunt' that never was!..I Burnett

Fire these failed administrators
published: Wednesday | May 9, 2007




IN THE ABSENCE of a culture in which sports administrators do not feel compelled to demit office amid constant failures in Jamaica and the Caribbean, there is an urgent need for the establishment of a council with authority to fire such personnel.

Very clear evidence for this jury was provided in no uncertain manner by the response, or lack of it, of top West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) officials in the face of the regional team's recent World Cup debacle; and only this past weekend, those in the hierarchy of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), following the national Under-17 football team's bottom place finish in the CONCACAF Final Round World Cup qualification series at the National Stadium.

The West Indies, champions of the cricket game for decades, have been struggling terribly in recent years with a host of losses and were easily dispatched by top-notch teams Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the Super Eights of the recent Cricket World Cup.

With the exception of a player dropped here and there, on the surface there is not much evidence of change.

Following the team's World Cup demise, board president Ken Gordon, in a letter of intent to resign, basically reasoned that their inability to successfully arrest the problems affecting the Caribbean had forced him to that decision. Further, Gordon suggested he would resign to set a standard for other cricket governors in the wings to do the same when they have failed.

'Ha, ha, ha!' Those members among the board to whom he put the suggestion 'asked him to reconsider' as they would have none of it. That's just not the done thing around here.

So, that unaccountable bunch soldiered on in whatever fashion, while the region's much-beloved game crumbled.

Succession of failures

Then, there is the JFF, which, amidst few successes has steadily built a ladder of failure that is becoming more unbearable with every step.

Numbered among the successes are the 2005 Digicel Caribbean Cup, Caribbean Under-15 title, 2007 Lunar New Year Cup, qualification of men's and women's Under-23 teams for this summer's Pan-Am Games in Brazil.

Failures include that of the Reggae Boyz in the 2006 World Cup campaign when Sebastiao Lazaroni was brought in to replace Carl Brown who had successfully qualified the team to the semi-final stage; the Boyz's '06 embarrassment with elimination from a four-nation Digicel Caribbean Cup group with Haiti, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines hosted at the National Stadium, which intrinsically meant failure to qualify for the Gold Cup; as well as the failure of the women's senior and Under-19 teams to make the World Cup, added to that of the Young Boyz.

The latest step, from which Jamaica made a mighty fall, came on Sunday night at the National Stadium when the Under-17 boys were beaten 1-0 by Trinidad and Tobago and denied a spot in the Youth World Cup in Korea.

Bottom of the rung

If Jamaica had won that match, it would have qualified for a World Cup in which it appeared so destined to participate. They were hosts, five countries were competing and three of the five nations were guaranteed qualification.

Instead, Jamaica finished bottom of the rung with the three points it took off the best team in the qualifiers, the United States, who have advanced to every World Cup Final at that age level.

This Under-17 team was again, according to the JFF, the 'best prepared' national team, just like the Under-20s who also finished bottom of a four-nation CONCACAF Final Round Youth World Cup elimination series - which included little St. Kitts - in January in Mexico, the same Under-20s who were 'better' than the one which advanced to the Youth World Cup in Argentina in 2001.

That Under-20 unit, which actually played in the Argentina World Cup, had over 60-odd matches, had a camp in Brazil, toured Europe and the United States, where they got first-class practice, which is really the right type of preparation for teams aiming for world level tournaments.

The same applies to the Reggae Boyz who made it to France '98 and the Under-17s a year later who qualified for the Youth World Cup Finals in New Zealand.

A significant difference between the national teams that have sought World Cup qualification under this Crenston Boxhill-led JFF is that they have played loads of practice matches - only against local teams.

Boxhill himself, was anintegral part of the Captain Horace Burrell-led JFF at the time and the senior Reggae Boyz - as team manager - when these teams were making giant strides towards qualifying for these tournaments. The fact that his administration has not adopted clearly successful strategies indicate an unwillingness to take the risks to transform failure into success.

The Under-17 coach, David Hunt, did the honourable thing and resigned immediately after Sunday's failure. The West Indies coach, Bennett King, also made a similar move after the World Cup.

However, in a country and region where the motivation and pressure to perform is lacking as there are no systems of accountability, or culture to walk away, let's urgently establish councils to fire en bloc these failed administrators of cricket and football in Jamaica and the West Indies.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com

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[Sir X]

Re: The 'Hunt' that never was!..I Burnett

Bucknor: New techniques necessary for change
published: Wednesday | May 9, 2007


Bucknor

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

RENOWNED INTERNATIONAL cricket umpire Steve Bucknor believes that a new approach to coaching is absolutely essential if there is to be a turnaround in the declining fortunes of St. James' football.

Speaking at Monday's launch of the St. James/Guardian Life Division Two competition in Montego Bay, Bucknor, who enjoyed much success in the 1980s as coach of the Cornwall College daCosta Cup and St. James parish team, said local coaches need to be retrained and recertified.

"We need thinkers as coaches so that they can impart the right information to the players and outsmart other coaches," said Bucknor. "It can't be good enough to attend a two-day seminar and then come away saying you are a certified coach."

Critical of teams

Bucknor was also quite critical of the parish's top teams Wadadah and Seba United, which he said have contributed to the decline in the parish's football by not seeking to groom and develop new players for their respective programmes.

"A lack of planning is now taking its toll on both clubs," said Bucknor. "They are not able to sustain themselves because they have no young players coming through to strengthen the teams."

Bucknor said that instead of depending on the transfer market for players, the clubs should develop their own players, which would ensure greater loyalty and commitment.

Insofar as the national programme was concerned, Bucknor said Jamaica was now paying the price of the legacy left behind by Brazilian coach George Penna, who was here in the 1960s; and Rene Simoes, who took Jamaica to the 1998 World Cup.

"As a nation of fast runners we need to develop a style based on running instead of the slow style taught to us by the Brazilians," said Bucknor. "As Jamaicans, we have excelled in so many ways doing it the Jamaica style so why can't we do the same for our football?"

Despite his criticism of St. James' football, Bucknor thinks the future could be very bright if the right things are done to correct the current weaknesses.

"We are doing very well at the junior level as Cornwall College are rural Under-16 champions and St. James High are Under-14 champions so it is not a question of not having the talent," said Bucknor. "It is more about managing the talent we have properly."

The Guardian Life tournament, which is sponsored to the tune of $500,000, is being contested by 28 teams, divided into four zones. The competition's winner will pocket more than $70,000.

[Karl]

Re: The 'Hunt' that never was!..I Burnett

Fire these failed administrators
published: Wednesday | May 9, 2007


Jamaica finished bottom of the rung with the three points it took off the best team in the qualifiers, the United States, who have advanced to every World Cup Final at that age level.

This Under-17 team was again, according to the JFF, the 'best prepared' national team, just like the Under-20s who also finished bottom of a four-nation CONCACAF Final Round Youth World Cup elimination series - which included little St. Kitts - in January in Mexico, the same Under-20s who were 'better' than the one which advanced to the Youth World Cup in Argentina in 2001.

That Under-20 unit, which actually played in the Argentina World Cup, had over 60-odd matches, had a camp in Brazil, toured Europe and the United States, where they got first-class practice, which is really the right type of preparation for teams aiming for world level tournaments.

The same applies to the Reggae Boyz who made it to France '98 and the Under-17s a year later who qualified for the Youth World Cup Finals in New Zealand.

A significant difference between the national teams that have sought World Cup qualification under this Crenston Boxhill-led JFF is that they have played loads of practice matches - only against local teams.

Boxhill himself, was anintegral part of the Captain Horace Burrell-led JFF at the time and the senior Reggae Boyz - as team manager - when these teams were making giant strides towards qualifying for these tournaments. The fact that his administration has not adopted clearly successful strategies indicate an unwillingness to take the risks to transform failure into success.

The Under-17 coach, David Hunt, did the honourable thing and resigned immediately after Sunday's failure. The West Indies coach, Bennett King, also made a similar move after the World Cup.

However, in a country and region where the motivation and pressure to perform is lacking as there are no systems of accountability, or culture to walk away, let's urgently establish councils to fire en bloc these failed administrators of cricket and football in Jamaica and the West Indies.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com

*tank God fi Jesus -

...someone else sees the importance of reinforcement of 'teacher's demonstration' - taking the pupils through the concepts and having them do numerous exercises in as near to 'match condition'/real world situations as possible...

...reinforcing such that an enabling of use of what was taught becomes reflex action in 'real world' situations...tournament situations!

*tenk God, fi Jesus!
Aaaaaamen!

[Mosiah]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

We did play the USA twice last year. I think we lost 2-0 and 2-1.

[Reggae-Fan]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

We did play the USA twice last year. I think we lost 2-0 and 2-1.

And so? that doesnt change anything. playing the USA last year does not count, I am talking about the preperation during the three or four months leading up to the finakl round.

[Mosiah]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

Did I say anything about what counts or what doesn't? Do you think I'm satisfied with the preparation or anything else?

Simply trying to set the record straight, and the record is we played the USA in addition to Mexico.

What?!?!?

[Naminirt]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

So if we had all the ingredients and conditions to qualify...what went wrong then? Do we place the blame squarely on the player's shoulders?

Boxhill and his crew were stabding by to brag and show off had the team made it...so therefore, I will not hesitate for a moment to highlight the things that they neglected.

By the way, while we were content with playing Mexico for our warm up prior to the final round, the same T&T that got the better of us were busy preparing, playing the same Mexico twice, Honduras away twice, and Venezuela.

we did not play venezuela get that through yah skull that never happened plus we lost to the same mexico you all beated

[Sando]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

we did not play venezuela get that through yah skull that never happened plus we lost to the same mexico you all beated

Naminirt I think reggae fan is just saying that T&T did a better job than JA preparing for the final round....Reggae fan Naminirt is right ..we did not played Ven...but we did tour central america and played Mexico twice at home and also other local Trinbagonian teams...

I want to take this oppportunity to thank the administration and moderators for making this forum available...I'm basically here to study the opposition

[Naminirt]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

But ja played mexico twice and a hot of local teams also .. so prep was the same

[Siya]

Re: Prior to sunday I didn't even think

Karl What on earth did you do to my post? Where is it? Isn't there a law against morphing a man's post into your diatribe?