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Football fever is in the air
published: Wednesday | September 26, 2007
THE FOOTBALL season is kicking into full gear with the competitions that attract major attention such as the Premier League which is soon to start, and the schoolboy daCosta and Manning Cup contests which are up and running.
Excitement is bound to follow the schoolboy championships that are hugely popular and will forever remain that way.
The same applies to the Premier League which, despite the significant boost of the biggest sponsorship deal, is not enjoying a smooth build-up.
There is also the bigger project of the national senior football team that creates an uneasy stir based on what has, or more correctly, what has not been going on for quite some time.
Mainly, the Reggae Boyz have not played an international since July 2 when they were hammered 8-1 by Iran on a four-match tour of Asia that produced some very disappointing results. Jamaica won one match, 2-0 over Malaysia, but lost thrice, including two others against Vietnam (3-0) and Indonesia (1-0).
Local clubs
Most of the players in that squad were all from local clubs and inexperienced; they were players who were basically on trial for selection to a core that should lead the country's charge in qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The draw for the qualification series in that eliminator will be held in Durban, South Africa, on Sunday, November 25. And in February 2008, the qualifiers for the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Associations of Football (CONCACAF), in which Jamaica will play, are set to begin.
That is barely four months away. What has happened since the beginning of the year is that Jamaica have played most of their matches with the local-based players. Very few of the more experienced players who play overseas and are expected to shoulder the burden in the qualifiers have been included.
The team has a new coach in the highly acclaimed Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, who has coached five different countries at the World Cup finals. He has been working with the team for nine months now but his methods regarding selection for internationals differ considerably from other teams and the results have been poor. Even giants such as Brazil and Argentina, whose football is already at a professional level, have qualifiers beginning next month and the European powerhouses have played a very large percentage of friendly internationals with most of their experienced regulars.
The clearest reflection of the failures now lies in their 96th-place world ranking, Jamaica's lowest in well over a decade.
Friendly internationals
More recently, dates set aside for friendly internationals by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) have not been utilised by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). There were two in September and one in August. For one of the September dates, some time ago the JFF had announced it was seeking a match with Colombia. There was never a confirmation and subsequently, there was little surprise, even though there was no announcement, that it never materialised.
On the same weekend when the match should have been played, there was a rather puzzling situation in which a couple of Jamaica's Britain-based players, including Stoke City duo Ricardo Fuller and Demar Phillips, actually flew in for the game that was never on.
Generally, the clubs release the players based on a JFF request but the sport's ruling body here never took responsibility for inviting the players. Like I said, it's rather puzzling.
Right now, World Cup qualifiers are on the horizon and it is still not clear if anything is happening, from a national standpoint, even as players are busily preparing with their clubs.
There is an indication that something might happen soon as the Reggae Boyz are listed to face Nigeria on October 16, one of the two FIFA friendly dates next month. No announcement has been made by the JFF, but one is assuming FIFA would not have put it on its schedule unless both national associations gave the world governing body some form of guarantee.
The JFF, like it was for the senior Caribbean championships it won two years earlier, was fined again by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) for its bungling which denied the regional champion Under-15s a chance to defend their Caribbean title. They could not get a flight to Trinidad and Tobago in time for the tournament's start.
In the midst of all this, the current JFF executive body will change drastically as only one member, vice-president Linnel McLean, is challenging for re-election at its voting congress on November 4.
Friendly internationals
The apparent state of nothingness gives the impression that the current administrators are not too enthused. One hopes this is really not so and all the remaining FIFA friendly dates henceforth will be utilised with matches geared towards World Cup preparation, inclusive of the core of the country's more experienced and better ballers, who are playing professionally overseas. Otherwise, the current executive should hand over the reins immediately, and let people with the drive lead the thing. In such a case, its board of directors, which is constituted by the parish association presidents, has the power to appoint an interim head and then call an extraordinary sitting for a vote within 14 days.
That would give those who will be entrusted with the task of shaping the country's qualification hopes more time to prepare and, if anything, at least relieve the uneasy feeling pervading the national football sphere.
published: Wednesday | September 26, 2007
THE FOOTBALL season is kicking into full gear with the competitions that attract major attention such as the Premier League which is soon to start, and the schoolboy daCosta and Manning Cup contests which are up and running.
Excitement is bound to follow the schoolboy championships that are hugely popular and will forever remain that way.
The same applies to the Premier League which, despite the significant boost of the biggest sponsorship deal, is not enjoying a smooth build-up.
There is also the bigger project of the national senior football team that creates an uneasy stir based on what has, or more correctly, what has not been going on for quite some time.
Mainly, the Reggae Boyz have not played an international since July 2 when they were hammered 8-1 by Iran on a four-match tour of Asia that produced some very disappointing results. Jamaica won one match, 2-0 over Malaysia, but lost thrice, including two others against Vietnam (3-0) and Indonesia (1-0).
Local clubs
Most of the players in that squad were all from local clubs and inexperienced; they were players who were basically on trial for selection to a core that should lead the country's charge in qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The draw for the qualification series in that eliminator will be held in Durban, South Africa, on Sunday, November 25. And in February 2008, the qualifiers for the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean Associations of Football (CONCACAF), in which Jamaica will play, are set to begin.
That is barely four months away. What has happened since the beginning of the year is that Jamaica have played most of their matches with the local-based players. Very few of the more experienced players who play overseas and are expected to shoulder the burden in the qualifiers have been included.
The team has a new coach in the highly acclaimed Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic, who has coached five different countries at the World Cup finals. He has been working with the team for nine months now but his methods regarding selection for internationals differ considerably from other teams and the results have been poor. Even giants such as Brazil and Argentina, whose football is already at a professional level, have qualifiers beginning next month and the European powerhouses have played a very large percentage of friendly internationals with most of their experienced regulars.
The clearest reflection of the failures now lies in their 96th-place world ranking, Jamaica's lowest in well over a decade.
Friendly internationals
More recently, dates set aside for friendly internationals by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) have not been utilised by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). There were two in September and one in August. For one of the September dates, some time ago the JFF had announced it was seeking a match with Colombia. There was never a confirmation and subsequently, there was little surprise, even though there was no announcement, that it never materialised.
On the same weekend when the match should have been played, there was a rather puzzling situation in which a couple of Jamaica's Britain-based players, including Stoke City duo Ricardo Fuller and Demar Phillips, actually flew in for the game that was never on.
Generally, the clubs release the players based on a JFF request but the sport's ruling body here never took responsibility for inviting the players. Like I said, it's rather puzzling.
Right now, World Cup qualifiers are on the horizon and it is still not clear if anything is happening, from a national standpoint, even as players are busily preparing with their clubs.
There is an indication that something might happen soon as the Reggae Boyz are listed to face Nigeria on October 16, one of the two FIFA friendly dates next month. No announcement has been made by the JFF, but one is assuming FIFA would not have put it on its schedule unless both national associations gave the world governing body some form of guarantee.
The JFF, like it was for the senior Caribbean championships it won two years earlier, was fined again by the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) for its bungling which denied the regional champion Under-15s a chance to defend their Caribbean title. They could not get a flight to Trinidad and Tobago in time for the tournament's start.
In the midst of all this, the current JFF executive body will change drastically as only one member, vice-president Linnel McLean, is challenging for re-election at its voting congress on November 4.
Friendly internationals
The apparent state of nothingness gives the impression that the current administrators are not too enthused. One hopes this is really not so and all the remaining FIFA friendly dates henceforth will be utilised with matches geared towards World Cup preparation, inclusive of the core of the country's more experienced and better ballers, who are playing professionally overseas. Otherwise, the current executive should hand over the reins immediately, and let people with the drive lead the thing. In such a case, its board of directors, which is constituted by the parish association presidents, has the power to appoint an interim head and then call an extraordinary sitting for a vote within 14 days.
That would give those who will be entrusted with the task of shaping the country's qualification hopes more time to prepare and, if anything, at least relieve the uneasy feeling pervading the national football sphere.
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