Football needs foundation

I have a brethren to whom I refer as Sir Basil. Sir, because of his elderly status.

In my years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time around elderly folk. I have a deep love and appreciation for people who have lived beyond some years. They share much. And sound reasoning. So if listening numbers among your assets, and you care to share time with the elderly, you’ll learn much.

Now Sir Basil is a shoemaker and much of our reasonings are shared with him on one side of his work table and I on the other. And for all the years observing his work, there’s a fundamental trend in building his shoes.

Sir Basil cuts the sole first.

It sets the platform for Sir Basil’s end product. He has been doing that for days, for hours, for years, for decades and yielding success.

Football administrators in this country, in recent weeks, have had some things to smile about. And they are good things. First, a 2-0 away win at Honduras in Concacaf final-round World Cup qualifying, followed by government approval accommodating 5,000 fully vaccinated spectators inside the National Stadium for the November 16 FIFA elimination series game against the United States.

Fan support

Fan support is largely believed to provide an advantage for home teams in football, or any sport, for that matter, more so by energising their players and influencing refereeing decisions, particularly in situations where an official might show leniency in potential red-card situations.

Since Concacaf’s Octagonal begun in September, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and, by extension, the country’s senior national men’s football team, has not had the privilege of home support due to COVID-19 protocols.

During that period, they have played two home matches, without spectators, and were hammered 0-3 by Panama before tying 0-0 against Canada, thus taking one of a maximum six points.

Contrastingly, all the other teams in Concacaf’s Octagonal were playing home games with spectator support.

The concept of ‘home’ is viewed as critical, as the sports’ world governing body, FIFA, employs fan-related penalties for ‘discriminatory behaviour’ to achieve goals.

Mexico, for example, has been forced to play their next two home World Cup qualifiers before an empty stadium as punishment for their supporters directing anti-gay slurs against opposing players from Canada and Honduras in this very campaign.

Mexico had been punished similarly during their 2-1 win over Jamaica, with no spectators allowed inside at The Azteca.

And this time, FIFA fined Mexico’s football federation US$110,000 (approx J$17 million).

In terms of raw statistics though, studies of top European leagues by the German Sport University, Cologne, and University of Limerick, Ireland, reflected winning percentages of anywhere between 46 and 50 per cent for home teams, as opposed to away teams winning on average anywhere between 23 and 27 per cent.

Of greater relevance is this ongoing Concacaf Octagonal, where the figures are not vastly different, with home teams winning nine of 24 matches. When added to drawn results, the total number of points accumulated by home countries is 37, out of a possible 72, which works out at approximately 51 per cent.

More than any statistical marker, the most important element for success is, quite simply, performance, which is tied to preparation.

World Cup football is the highest level of play for any country, and getting a team ready for that sort of competition requires not days, or months, but years of practice to fine-tune, replenish and create understanding among players.

With players spending most of their time with the day-to-day employer, their club, it has become increasingly important for countries involved in World Cup activity and desirous of making the Finals to have a defined core of players (for competition/friendlies/tournament) for a period no less than two years.

Proof lies at the top of the Concacaf standings where the leading countries’ roster has not witnessed any significant shift in numbers recently.

The same cannot be said about Jamaica, which flooded its squad with new players on the brink of qualifying competition and have been scampering, especially for its past three matches, due to player shortage.

This is absolutely ridiculous for a country with hundreds of players about, a country which also just finished its Premier League.

It is, however, not a day-old problem. It has been happening for months, for years and even decades stretching back to France ‘98, when an addition of English-based players of Jamaican descent joined the team in the midst of final-round qualification – then a Hexagonal (six countries) – and added life to its successful sequence, in the stretch run laden with home matches.

Since then, those charged with selecting the Jamaican’s men’s senior team appear to have been influenced in such a manner to wave their wands over Britain, hoping the magic in qualification would happen. Pfffttt!!

Jamaica qualified for FIFA’s World Cup Finals once.

Jamaican material

Aptly reminded by Sir Basil’s work, that end product was built from a solid base, with Jamaican material. Because no one builds without a foundation.

In the period between FIFA matches, the JFF, inclusive of head coach Theodore Whitmore and his coaching staff, needs to select players disengaged in the Premier League off-season, or others with real talent, and prepare them for the World Cup pool, even if it means only four or five will make that final squad.

And not only that, but make it a continuous process because the talent being sought outside is no better than that which lies within. Unless, of course, talent such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will magically become eligible.

A foundation, for any national football programme, must start at home. This is where the most available material lies and it is where Whitmore resides. With the programme in shambles and Whitmore’s job on the line, it is where the guts and courage emerged in trying circumstances to sum up that magnificent performance with pride and determination in the 2-0 away win at bottom-placed Honduras.

Now lying sixth on five points with eight games remaining and a top-three spot guaranteed for World Cup qualification, Jamaica face a tough task. Third-place Canada are already five points ahead on 10; and Panama lie fourth on eight points in the Confederation play-off spot.

Home support may yet provide a boost and sometimes bad things happen for good. Let’s hope player absenteeism and performances thereafter occupy the thoughts of those steering the ship to build a platform.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com