CONGRATS JAMAICA, BUT A LOT STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE

Congratulations to Jamaica for qualifying for the CONCACAF Under-17 World Cup to be held in Mexico come June. I wish them well.

They will have to play much better than they did today. I am aware that the condition of the pitch does affect the quality of play but these youngsters, while possessing individual talent are still falling short in tactical awareness and maintaining ball possession and from a mental perspective, the ability to remain calm in the face of adversity.

Having dominated the match against Honduras, Jamaica came under much pressure in the last 20 minutes or so, partly through a more aggressive approach from the Hondurans but largely because they seemed incapable of easing the pressure off themselves by keeping possession of the ball.

It is a common saying among coaches that the other team cannot score if they do not have the ball. At the international club level we have seen Barcelona dominate other teams by just possessing the football – passing, pulling the opposing players out of position, and exploiting the resulting spaces.

I agree that the players are young, but these are some of the things they should be learning now or should have learned during their six-week stint in Brazil. We will assume that coach Wendell Downswell will see it fit to emphasize the importance of some of these things from this point onwards as the team prepares for it’s World Cup campaign.

Now that the pressure of qualification is off, Coach Downswell needs to take the time now to engage the players. Let them watch the tape of the last half hour of the Honduras game and point out what they were doing wrong and why had Honduras been a better team, Jamaica may very well have ended up bowing out of the tournament after having played much better in the first 50 minutes of the game.

June is only a few months off so there is time. However, that time has to be spent wisely if Jamaica is to have more than a token appearance in Mexico this summer.