Let me first state that this group of ballers is the most talented and professional club experienced group we have probably ever had especially so with virtually all players except Hector born and bred playing real yardball.
Blake a top three keeper in the MLS, Taxi possibly the best left back in MLS, Bailey an incredible producer in a top four league in the world, Nicholson the most improved player after hitting snowy climes with massive potential to improve with better finishing. That is just the tip of the iceberg, Flemming, Lambert, Vassell, Orgill and a plethora of others bubbling under the lid.
So what makes for under performance with so many gifts!! It is the culture of complacency which we saw well displayed in the first round of the Gold cup. The goals given up in the first round and a GD of one is the product of 'cruising' and not playing to close to full capability, that is what the coach should be helping to bring out.
Acceptance of mediocre performance brings more mediocracy and worse losses at critical points to weaker teams. The game against Curacao was virtually a loss.
The disciplined play of a team like Curacao exemplifies what Jamaica is missing, execution, composure and the fire to attack and defend for 90 minutes never mind 120 minutes.
The play of Haiti and Costa Rica yesterday against stronger opposition was amazing, every ball closed out with players in their defensive half especially in the second half and beyond was closed out and tracked with a strong dose of desperation there was no cruising at all.
Cruising mentality will send Jamaica out of this tournament and disciplined play is not something you can turn on and off it must be practiced.
Panama always plays hungrier than Jamaica when they play us even coming into the office and eating our supper, this should be personal for Tappa but after all these years I think his weaknesses are not selecting the best players regardless of personal feeling, not inculcating a hard professional discipline, Game execution, weak technical application on set pieces both in attack and especially in defense. Results are decent at times but never build in an accumulation type way always seem to be starting over, this comes to the real culprit which may be all JFF.
So where do we go from here, I would love to see Ja ball go to a CEO led football operation selected by the board to run the entire operation, separating the operation of the team from the everyday up and downs of the Jff administration team.
I mean a real CEO with real experience running other profit and surplus driven organizations not done best friend of the people on the board, of course this will probably never happen as most top administrators in most Jamaican sports act like Kings and every decision is based on the whims of personal issues, much like we are seeing with Jaaa and Danielle Williams situation pure ego business.
The CEO would get a yearly budget but also be in charge of making deals on the revenue and sponsorship side with a mandate to create a surplus in order to drive real development into national team football.
This would wipe away the foolishness of the issue continually brought up by players on the eve of tournaments and create more consistency for all national teams with 100% focus on playing ball, discipline and all the detail in developing a more solid technical approach across all teams.
The weak points here and now are discipline and execution which can be overcome by strong focus and discipline in short term but the real improvement must come at the Jff structure level in order to truly maximize the potential of this super talented group and the waves coming behind it until that happens it will always be just wishes dashed in the wind.
Blake a top three keeper in the MLS, Taxi possibly the best left back in MLS, Bailey an incredible producer in a top four league in the world, Nicholson the most improved player after hitting snowy climes with massive potential to improve with better finishing. That is just the tip of the iceberg, Flemming, Lambert, Vassell, Orgill and a plethora of others bubbling under the lid.
So what makes for under performance with so many gifts!! It is the culture of complacency which we saw well displayed in the first round of the Gold cup. The goals given up in the first round and a GD of one is the product of 'cruising' and not playing to close to full capability, that is what the coach should be helping to bring out.
Acceptance of mediocre performance brings more mediocracy and worse losses at critical points to weaker teams. The game against Curacao was virtually a loss.
The disciplined play of a team like Curacao exemplifies what Jamaica is missing, execution, composure and the fire to attack and defend for 90 minutes never mind 120 minutes.
The play of Haiti and Costa Rica yesterday against stronger opposition was amazing, every ball closed out with players in their defensive half especially in the second half and beyond was closed out and tracked with a strong dose of desperation there was no cruising at all.
Cruising mentality will send Jamaica out of this tournament and disciplined play is not something you can turn on and off it must be practiced.
Panama always plays hungrier than Jamaica when they play us even coming into the office and eating our supper, this should be personal for Tappa but after all these years I think his weaknesses are not selecting the best players regardless of personal feeling, not inculcating a hard professional discipline, Game execution, weak technical application on set pieces both in attack and especially in defense. Results are decent at times but never build in an accumulation type way always seem to be starting over, this comes to the real culprit which may be all JFF.
So where do we go from here, I would love to see Ja ball go to a CEO led football operation selected by the board to run the entire operation, separating the operation of the team from the everyday up and downs of the Jff administration team.
I mean a real CEO with real experience running other profit and surplus driven organizations not done best friend of the people on the board, of course this will probably never happen as most top administrators in most Jamaican sports act like Kings and every decision is based on the whims of personal issues, much like we are seeing with Jaaa and Danielle Williams situation pure ego business.
The CEO would get a yearly budget but also be in charge of making deals on the revenue and sponsorship side with a mandate to create a surplus in order to drive real development into national team football.
This would wipe away the foolishness of the issue continually brought up by players on the eve of tournaments and create more consistency for all national teams with 100% focus on playing ball, discipline and all the detail in developing a more solid technical approach across all teams.
The weak points here and now are discipline and execution which can be overcome by strong focus and discipline in short term but the real improvement must come at the Jff structure level in order to truly maximize the potential of this super talented group and the waves coming behind it until that happens it will always be just wishes dashed in the wind.
Comment