The real journey begins
published: Saturday | June 14, 2008
Rene Simoes, left, and Captain Horace Burrell.
Audley Boyd, Assistant Sports Editor
CAPTAIN Horace Burrell is at the helm of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). His trusted lieutenant, Horace Reid, plays the same role as general secretary. René Simoes is still the team boss and Alfredo Montesso remains his right-hand man. Even some of the foot soldiers, Ian 'Pepe' Goodison, Andrew 'Bomber' Williams and Ricardo Gardner, still number among the party.
In a little over 10 years ago, the tried and proven squad that lifted Jamaica's football to the dizzying heights of World Cup qualification in France, 1998, are leading another charge for glory, this time on a campaign to lead to South Africa 2010.
First order of business
First stop is at 'The Office' - the arena where some of the Boyz's greatest successes were scored in the 'Road to France' campaign - and the first order of business is Bahamas in a 7 p.m. game tomorrow.
It appears a pretty straightforward assignment: a country ranked 167th with no record in football to cause any tremors for even a Premier League club here.
Yet, that will not be the case for the Jamaicans, given their latest result - a shocking 1-2 loss to 143rd-ranked Grenada in the Spice Isles on Tuesday.
"Football is a sport that you cannot take for granted, anyone can beat you, anyone," remarked Simoes on the team's return Wednesday.
On the warpath
They are still reeling from the effects, to the point where they are basically on the warpath and ready to unleash on the Bahamians.
"I have no doubts that this team can do very well," Simoes said. "We will analyse our mistakes. The next game cannot be the same. I guarantee you, it will not be the same."
It cannot.
Tomorrow's match is the first of a two-way series, from which only the winners will advance in the qualifiers. Whatever the circumstances, Jamaica being eliminated by The Bahamas is simply unthinkable. Unheard of, especially as both legs of the CONCACAF second-round fixture will be played here.
The sport's governors, FIFA, deemed Bahamas' home venue unfit for hosting World Cup level matches and the multi-purpose stadium in Trelawny will host the second game on Wednesday.
The next stage is a four-nation semi-final round-robin series from which the top two will advance to a CONCACAF Final Round six-team elimination that decides the automatic qualifiers for South Africa 2010.
Likely semi groups
Based on the seedings, the semi-final group is likely to include Mexico, Honduras and Canada. Mexico, Jamaica and Honduras were all matched in the same semi-final group in the 1998 qualifiers.
At that time, the vast majority of Reggae Boyz were based with clubs in Jamaica and as such, prepared together for years leading into the campaign. Now, it's the other way around with the majority based with clubs in Europe or North America, where they play professionally.
Seven of the starters are based overseas - Goodison, Tyrone Marshall, Ricardo Gardner, Andy Williams, Demar Phillips, Marlon King and Ricardo Fuller. And the goalkeeper, Donovan Rickettes, was attached to Bradford City in Britain until his work permit expired this year. The other three starters, Rudolph Austin and the unrelated Taylors - Jermaine and Evan - play for local clubs.
They only get together for short periods leading into a game, though this time the end of the football season in Britain has meant almost a two-week camp for Simoes' team.
Defeat at the hands of Grenada marked the culmination of warm-up matches against Caribbean rivals, as Jamaica had previously drawn 1-1 with Trinidad and Tobago beaten St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) 5-1.
Interestingly, SVG were also in the '98 semi-final grouping and were hammered by the same margin in their fixture against the Boyz at 'The Office'. Scoring a double that day was Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore, who is now a member of Simoes' coaching staff.
Jamaicans will be hoping he can impart some magical influence on not only his teammates of the day, but other members of squad who will lead the charge against Bahamas.
VOX POP - Do you believe that Jamaica should be using so many players from the 1998 team for this 2010 World Cup campaign?
Kevin Walker - I don't think that we should be using some of these older players because they cannot manage the pace of the game anymore. I think that they should give the younger players a chance to prove themselves to the world.
Simon Lamey - Once they are fit and can meet the necessary criteria of the team, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be using them.
Steven Henry - I don't think these older players should play now because we had teams that went to the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups before and we don't have any of these youths playing now. This means that we are in serious problems.
Otis Campbell - I think we should be using the younger players instead of the older ones because a number of older players are past their best now.
Anna Pottinger - The older players are a lot more experienced than the younger ones and I believe that once they are fit and can still perform at the highest level, we should still continue to use them.
David Whittingham - I think we should still use the players from the 1998 team because most of the players are playing overseas and they are also a lot more experienced than the younger ones.
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Guys even Audley Boyd Article have some conclusion to what we are saying.
