LEARNING FROM THE LAST WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN

Now that the dream of Brazil has been shattered, the Jamaica Football Federation is tasked with putting another together. The road to Russia in 2018 beckons. But if that dream is not to end another disaster the way this last one did, the JFF has to be willing to learn from its past mistakes and be willing to seek help where necessary.

Nobody knows everything and even the brightest among us occasionally need to consult with persons not as smart but who have been blessed with the types of experiences that are invaluable. Among the salvageable pieces scattered about are a good coach, one which based on his vast experience could turn out to be our best one yet.

Winfried Schafer is yet to win a game as coach of the Reggae Boyz. After four games he has one loss and three draws. But then you have to consider that he took over a team in June after Theodore Whitmore was canned after the Boyz lost 2-0 in Honduras and had not looked like winning a game in the five games before that disastrous performance.

Schafer came in and almost immediately, without getting a chance to know his players, had the team playing better. A lot of what Schafer brought was years of success as a player at Borussia Monchengladbach that won five Bundesliga titles in the 1970s. He was a member of the 1970 team.

As a manager he led Cameroon to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2002 and Al Ahli to the United Arab Emirates League title in 2006. He has had many other successes in between and after those periods and it is this wealth of experience at winning that he brings now to Jamaica. We have to be prepared to give him what he wants; what he needs to get Jamaica to have a winning programme once again.

Schafer, I feel, needs to be given a free hand to develop players and to implement programmes that he thinks will be essential to the success of the process that he will guide. The JFF also has to find a way to get a few decent playing surfaces of international standard in the country on which players can develop their games to the level that will put them on par with the best players in the CONCACAF region. There are other things that are needed but these getting these things done will be a good start.

Also among the scattered pieces is a crop of talented but under-developed players who can be shaped into quality players with some special work to get them up to par with what is needed to mount a competitive campaign. Focus over the next two years at the start of the next campaign should be on getting a pool of players that would have been assessed and put into specially designed programmes to get them up to par.

These players and those based overseas also need to be given opportunities to gel. That means many practice games, as many as possible, against teams in the Caribbean, and the region to give the pool a chance to become familiar with each other.

That pool of players along with others who might show themselves over the next couple of years, whether they are playing in college here or abroad or in high school, will provide the depth that is critical to a long and arduous campaign. We all saw what happened when Nyron Noseworthy got hurt early in the last campaign. A good defense is critical to any protracted campaign. They key to winning games is to score and not be scored upon.

We also need to find four or five dynamic creative midfield players, something that Jamaica clearly lacked in this failed run at Brazil. Strikers can’t score without the ball and if midfielders aren’t good enough to get the ball to the strikers then they should not be in the programme. The time has come when we should not be settling for the mediocre. The beat the best we have to field the best.

But all these things make up only part of what is needed. It has become apparent that the JFF lacks the skill sets, the acumen, to put a proper programme together. That expertise is available however, but has never been utilized. There are people out there like UEFA A standard coach Jerome Samuels and administrators like Lorne Donaldson who are more than willing to make themselves available to the national programme but someone needs to reach out to them.

Both these men and several others are based abroad but are blessed with the kind of expertise and experience that the JFF lacks. Pride needs to be swallowed and these people brought in to lend a helping hand.

The more of us who shoulder the burden, the easier the load. It doesn’t hurt to ask for help.

Older Entries

Newer Entries

The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
The Gleaner reserves the right not to publish comments that may be deemed libelous, derogatory or indecent.
To respond to The Gleaner please use the feedback form.

7 Responses to “LEARNING FROM THE LAST WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN”

Nigel Taylor says:

October 23, 2013 at 12:15 am

I think the writer made some good points and I agree that Lorne and Jerome amongst others could add value to the programme but I disagree that the skill set is lacking amongst the local populace. If we had held that position wrt track and field our best athletes would continue to go over to the USA in droves to be mules in NCAA competition.

Many outside of football correctly identified that we were not a team but an ever changing collection of almost randomly selected players for much of the Road to Rio Campaign. There was no plan and crucial FIFA dates came and went without games being played or the squad assembling. There was no home advantage and locally based players who do have the ability to perform at the highest level seemed to have no hope for selection ….but were the ones who played any less competent than the majority of the overseas recruits? Can you imagine any one of the leading Manning or D cup teams going to training with only 9 players around 4 days before the second round starts? That was what obtained at the National level though before a set of 3 crucial qualifiers in May 2013.

Simoes tried to build a youth system and we are all but going back on it. He had a local squad that could handle the abominably tough (to foreigners) surface at the National Stadium. He played the USA in the mid day sun. Simoes spoke to the media and shared the vision for the teams success. Each postition had match tested options in case concerns arose due to injury. More importantly, the unit developed cohesiveness over time by camping and playing together.

The surface issue could be addressed because Sporting and other grounds are good enough surfaces even though we have to realize that the future of soccer is really with astroturf/artificial surfacesof which none still exists in Jamaica even at the technical center at UWI. Where has all the FIFA development money really gone? We should try to be a bit better in the allocation of these funds.

If we are disciplined we can definitely make it to Russia in 2018. We will need an organized approach with a standard framework of play that utilizes our natural strength, flair and speed but recognizes collective responsibility and stresses discipline and continuous awareness. The players must be given the chance to gel and selection must be well thought out and not adhoc as it was under Whitmore.

We need communicators so Whitmore as under 23 coach (an alleged consideration) would be a big no no for me. The coaches need not have been the best players but in Vin Blaine, Carl Brown, Bertis Bell, and upcoming stars such as the coaches at Munro College and Manchester High there is more than enough to take Jamaica to statospheric levels. Let us not forget that for 30 years the genius that is Glen Mills was widely viewed as just one of the better sprint coaches in Jamaica. It is now obvious that he is more than just that. Andrew Edwards and his Manchester counterpart are no ordinary coaches. They will prove this to all over the years to come. Jamaica will do well to embrace them now. We should embrace the CONCACAF licencing system to further develop our coaches and referees. However possibly contrary to the writer, I do not believe that having Jamaican heritage and a UEFA A licence means one would be a good fit for the National programme. Jamaica is always going to have to improvize and this improvization is something not advanced in the UEFA and USSF coaching schemes.

Finally.. just as in track if we want to truelly develop our soccer we should look to the schools. They have the natural support of their alumni and a few of these such as JC, STETHS, Munro could even consider joining STGCFC and formalizing some sort of academy arrangement. This I thonk though should not be done through our broken club system but its own so educated players may get a chance to join Overseas academies by age 14/15 with the others having to look to the North America offerings via the NCAA programmes or possible the Development league.

Though much is needed. It can be done and Horace Burrell has already shown that we can do it with mostly local-based administrative, coaching and playing talent.
Faith Blackwood says:

November 1, 2013 at 8:19 am

The only lesson that should be learned is that Jamaicans should not be wasting money on Sports.
We have hungry people, sick people, old people, all needing some of the crucial dollars spent on flattering the egos of a few itinerant footballers and their leader and perhaps muse, Horace Burrell.

Jamaicans must now put down play play something and focus on building a citizenry of intelligent, well-read and educated people. Let us put that money into learning Spanish and Chinese, as the Government is bent on selling out our Patrimony to Foreigners of All Stripes.

Bring back JAMAL before we start wasting money sending idle people with no ambition to World Cup! The same applies to cricketers. Since we already have an advantage in Athletics, let us focus on that and stop scattering our energies.

Anyone who wants to represent Jamaica, go abroad on your own dime, and train. That is what thousands more have done.

We don’t have the money to hold up that level of National Pride….and when our schools are turning out dunces that can barely give a coherent interview, I would prefer not to keep the spotlight shining on both DUNCE and INCOMPETENT sportsmen/women.
levyl says:

November 3, 2013 at 3:32 pm

Faith, sports is business. If we can invest money and create proper structures on which we can develop a sports industry, Jamaica stands to benefit greatly. Sports generates US$460-US$620 billion annually. Why shouldn’t Jamaica get a piece of the action. Drag your mind into the future. Do you realise how many kids have been able to access tertiary level education because of sports, and how many families have benefitted from having a member of their family play football abroad?
coachnello says:

November 9, 2013 at 4:14 pm

Mr. Levyl, how can u argue with Faith Brotherwood the man is talking facts. Even if they make billions of dollars (which is not so) a fool and his money will soon part. Just look at Mike Tyson. You say sports is business but i remind you that business is business. Cause if all the moneys that have being invested in football was invested in the arena of business then i guarantee you that the profits would be far more than that of sports, because business is more profitable than sports. If sports generates US$460-US$620 billion per year how much is generated through business and commerce annually? I would bet far more. How many kids access tertiary level education because of sports? For real how many? How many students at these very universities are there because of academics and academic scholarships? Tell me. How many families benefit from having a member playing football abroad? I might even stretch it to believe that many more families in Jamaica benefit from having members being journalists like yourself than number of families benefiting from having members playing football abroad.
levyl says:

November 13, 2013 at 9:15 am

How many athletes have been afforded a higher education which has allowed them to transition into successful careers in medicine, business and so so on? Do you truly believe that sports only generates business on the playing field? Have you ever heard about sports medicine, research, sports management, physiotherapists, sports agents, attorneys etc. That is how sports generates business my friend. Open your mind to the realities.
rasdizzy says:

November 14, 2013 at 6:48 am

Nobody is right, nobody is wrong. Everyone has a good point in the debate.
The best football is found in the streets, (and parks) as we say in Colombia. I used to live in Jamaica and played lots of football in UWI Mona with students and y guys from Papine and August Town. I was really impressed by the quality of some guys, who perfectly could join a professional team, but once the game was over, back to the split and the eternal misery for most of them, and it was really sad. Then watching the local football on TV, I could see the same quality, but what a contrast when watching the National Team, absolutely atrocious.
Jamaican has the human capital, it needs education, concentration more education, discipline and respect and not only will be in Russia but it will be a key player in the CONCAFAC.
coachnello says:

November 15, 2013 at 7:24 am

Mr. Levyl you are continuously shifting the goal posts. My initial point was that only a few Jamaican families benefit from having family members play football abroad; you implied many. For a country with nearly 3 million people, 30,000 families do not benefit from such an endeavour. My other point was that more students pay their way, receive academic scholarships etc than students who receive sports scholarships; you implied many. Let’s take for e.g. UWI which has a student population of 36,000+ (across 3 campuses) this school year only awarded sport scholarship to only 31 students. I have seen a document offering over 60 scholarships to Utech students, which does not include sport scholarships.
Where did i imply that sports only generate business on the playing field? (shifting goal posts). Sports business is only a subset of what is Business and Commerce therefore that small part cannot generate more money than the whole. Never in the history of the world has any one become the richest person on the planet through sports. Sports medicine is a small part of medicine; the best sport doctors first studied medicine, the best researchers are scholars not athletes, the best sport lawyers studied law. This shows that if you are a top doctor your horizons are broad and you can administer medicine to even Usain Bolt. Check the current Forbes list of the world billionaires and tell me which ones acquired wealth through business and trade and which ones through sports?
I rest my case…