Tweet
The 'Hunt' that never was!
Ian Burnett, Sports Editor
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Under-17 coach David HuntIT 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.
Ian Burnett, Sports Editor
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Under-17 coach David HuntIT 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.
