CARIBBEAN CUP, A GOOD SHOWING ON WHICH TO BUILD

Congratulations to the Reggae Boyz for claiming their sixth Caribbean Cup title in Montego Bay on Tuesday night. Considering what happened the last time the team contested the competition last year when it didn’t even get out of its group, this performance was a significant turnaround given what lies before them in terms of international competition.

Over the next couple of years the Boyz will battle the best in CONCACAF and CONMEBOL in the Gold Cup and the Centenario in 2015 and 2016 respectively, and of course, the 2018 World Cup campaign that begins in about in less than two years’ time.

Prior to the start of this competition there was mounting public pressure on the team and it’s head coach Winfried Schafer. It had lost five of its last six international games coming into the 2014 Caribbean Cup and that pressure, I believe, was undeserved. I won’t go into detail but let’s just say, did we really expect a Jamaican team that failed so miserably to qualify from CONCACAF for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, to defeat a strong French team, Serbia, or Switzerland? There is also the fact that four of those tough games were played between May 26 and June 8. I find we always conveniently ignore those extenuating factors and tend to look at results only in isolation.

Jamaica’s football loving public harbours very lofty expectations of their team. Even before the Boyz qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France, Jamaica’s football fan base somehow believed and still believes that the national team is among the best in the world. But while in principle, there is nothing wrong in having that kind of faith in the national squad, the reality is starkly different. Jamaica simply does not have the resources to be consistently competitive on the world stage. That is just fact. And while the local federation can and could be doing a much better job with the national programme, the one thing that must not be overlooked is that to implement a proper system of player development, the Jamaica Football Federation needs a lot more cash than it currently has access to.

So going in to the Caribbean Cup, everyone and everything was under scrutiny. It was not helped by what sources tell me was a potentially disastrous situation that cropped up just before the start of the competition where the national players had reportedly threatened to boycott the competition to force the JFF to ante up compensation for the players before a single ball was kicked. The matter was eventually settled thus averting the potential embarrassment of not having a team in a tournament we were hosting.

Under all the pressure and the potential boycott, the team did very well. After a slow start against Martinique, Jamaica rebounded with good wins against Antigua and a strong Haitian team. Jamaicans might not want to accept it but both teams are better than they are given credit for. And while it required penalties to defeat Trinidad in the final, anyone who watched the game could see clearly that Jamaica was the better of the teams and should have won by two clear goals. The team was better in possession, was cohesive in its play and fairly clinical in its finishing. Defensively, the team demonstrated maturity conceding only one goal in four matches.

Kudos must go out to Kemar Lawrence and Hughan Gray, two players who I thought were outstanding during the tournament and who now, under Coach Schafer, must build on this experience if they are to become staples in the Jamaican set up and form the foundation for strong defensive performances starting with next year’s Gold Cup. They will be tested against teams like the USA, Mexico and Costa Rica, but it will be a good learning experience for both. Gray, who suits up for Waterhouse, was especially sharp despite playing with a bad back. His foraging runs down the right flank were incisive and proved problematic for opposing teams. And while his crosses need work, he would have made the coaching staff at Waterhouse FC proud.

In midfield, Jamaica needs to bolster its ranks with a more creative midfielder or two, but the play of Jobi McAnuff must come in for special mention. After looking unsettled while playing under Theodore Whitmore, he was, for me, Jamaica’s MVP. His work-rate and link-up play with Simon Dawkins and Darren Mattocks were good, even if the final passes were still in need of improvement, but it was something to build on.

Mattocks seems to be coming into his own, finally. Three goals in four games suggest that he is now ready to assume the mantle of lead striker. He has the potential and given proper support in terms of defense-splitting passes from his midfielders, he could blossom into something special in the coming years. He just needs to get out of his own way. Of course, Rudolph Austin was his usual solid self. Joel Grant continues to be a revelation, even though I still believe he spends too much time preening and not enough moving the play forward but that is something that can be remedied quickly.

Overall, the team played well, well enough to win and release the pressure. Jamaica is an unforgiving public however, and going forward they will expect more wins to follow in every game played. They must bear in mind however, that the building process is still in progress and as new players are blooded, there will be hiccups. John Public needs to learn that it is often necessary to lose so that they team can learn how to win. Winning the Caribbean Cup is evidence of that but now it is is up to the JFF to provide the coaches and team with the kind of support that will see the team build on this success as it prepares for the major competitions ahead.

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5 Responses to “CARIBBEAN CUP, A GOOD SHOWING ON WHICH TO BUILD”

pierre bagalue says:

November 20, 2014 at 3:50 pm

truly jamaicans are in denial with that kind of degenerate thinking about the national team chemistry diligence and learning from difficult experiences are truly valuable when will jamaicans learn to be more mature and face the realities it is winning when it counts that matters .development and discipline are also key components let us now be patient and observe the future of the project .
Paul Banta says:

November 21, 2014 at 10:06 am

A good article but you state, “The one thing that must not be overlooked is that to implement a proper system of player development”. This is very difficult to do for the JFF when they are trying to do well to fund their senior men’s teams to potential one day create a money base for player development with very limited funds.

This development system must should be in place but it’s up to others in Jamaica to work hard at the develop the future players needed for both the men’s and the women’s national sides. This comes with building a strong leadership and coaching structure that emphasize youth development for elite players starting at ages 7 and upwards. Unless the private sector partnering with public organizations who are interested in football development and see the importance of developing players holistically expect the senior teams to struggle having good local players. You cannot expect the JFF to do it all and I’m sure they know they would be the first to agree this is impossible to achieve. No national body anywhere it the world does it all. The private and public sectors are responsible for developing players and coaches by providing avenues for coaches to teach players with modern methods.

So your comment above is a bit unrealistic, but your article praises the recent wins of the players and coaches for hope for the days ahead. Well done…..We must say well done Winfried Schafer and the players who worked so hard for Jamaica.
dallo says:

November 21, 2014 at 2:19 pm

well said as usual, and apart from the ‘should have won by two clear goals’talk – no such thing…you either score or you don’t – you give a sound perpsective.

despite the absence of any sort of dazzling talents, the players had a team spirit that hopefully becomes a permanent part of the reggae boyz’ identity, and our defending was outstanding.

goal scoring has always been our bane and we’re still living with that, but i think our next step is to take better of the ball once we get into the opponents half.

all in all, with the continuity which we have going now, i fully expect jamaica to develop a consistent brand of football that we can say ‘that’s reggae boyz ball’, much like what we see from the likes of costa rico, mexico, the usa.

the coach is doing good in my view; they play hard for him and he’s got everybody on the same page. jamaicans love the game and deserve a nice football team.
Blair Boyd says:

November 27, 2014 at 9:28 am

Now Jamaica won the caribbean league championship every one is heaping up praises on the coach,saying he is the best thing for JAMAICA, which I don’t believe.Is one that I know of a fact,as a people we have no respect for one another ,if you are not certain family or you don’t attends schools,you must not be in certain position in JAMAICA that’s why we can reached no in life.Most of our mottos if the person does not from foreign country to tell we Jamaicans certain thing about life ,we are not going to believe our own people.Because that’s the way,some people were brought up to believe only foreigners can teach us the way to life not our own people,that’s many concepts.I know that there many talented players in JAMAICA, but most there or too much bias against certain players,and teams I know that of a fact.When I useto lives in JAMAICA I useto whatched all the premier league teams that useto play into competition ,and I useto played into business house also corner league competition,so I know what am saying.There are too much biasness is going in JAMAICA for the longest while,that why we have it very hard to succeed in our endevourment.We need to cut that type of stupidness out of the way,and be more fare minded in whatever we do.I still do believe that they coach that JAMAICA is now using is the right answer,because he is not making the right choose at all,language barrier is a big problem towards the players.Am going you how mess up we are towards one another,when Carl Brown was there,the Jff treats him so bad.They didn’t even want to give the man hardley any money to buy gas,because they say they have no money which I know it was a big lie.Now they brought in foreign coach they gave brand new Bmw car to drive,hotel to stay with family and friends.That is to show you how wicked our people against one another,they are not going to change because of our slavery mentality still within us.who soever want to challenge me can go ahead,because I know that some of us are very rebellious .
ii
Blair Boyd says:

November 27, 2014 at 10:26 am

How comes Jamaica have so much money to pay a foreign coach ,and they could not have pay carl Brown when he was there,you can see how wicked the Jff was towards the man and staffs.Jonny Barnes was born in JAMAICA and his parents sent him to England to grow,because they might believe his birth land was not good for him.He played for England all these years he never thinking of playing for JAMAICA or help is own country,but when he is old and done,the Jamaica football federation brought him to Jamaica to coach which he was not a good coach after he was fired from the celtic as a coach I guess in scotland ,he came Jamaica under his term ,a brand new Bmw car,hotel to stay and got his pay in us $ and he did nothing for the team.They wasted that money on Jonny Barnes just to give him a joy ride to Jamaica, to me all those people on the Jff board should either be fired or go to jail.Because they have no sense at all,Jamaica have so much qualified coaches, there and those people on the board won’t even give them a try like my cousin Walter Boyd who have both local& international experiences who played all over the world.Those bunch of board member they should get rid of them,they are just wasting tax payers money.Because they can’t do the job as a coach,they believe that no one in JAMAICA is qualified for the job that. is to show you how wicked those people are against their own people.