Maximum effort for Boyz

Audley Boyd, Associate Editor - Sports

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad:

HAVING been given the mandate to continue charting a path forward for the nation's football, Captain Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), said his administration will be making the maximum effort to qualify teams for World Cup Finals.

Additionally, there is a plan to use the Reggae Boyz, the senior men's team, to generate funding for the programme and its desired goals.

"In this new term, we intend to do everything that is humanly possible to expose our teams, and more so the senior team," said Burrell, whose executive was returned en bloc by the board last week to serve a new term.

Garnering funds

He added: "It is well known that the senior team is the only one with an income-bearing arm and we intend to utilise our national senior team to help in garnering funds, as well as playing against international teams to give exposure, which is so vital in preparing the team (senior Reggae Boyz) to face our opponents in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), CONCACAF and FIFA competitions."

The Boyz got some of that exposure and preparation in an international football friendly encounter against Trinidad and Tobago, at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Tunapuna, Trinidad, yesterday, and Burrell was on hand.

"The major goal is to qualify for all the major competitions which we intend to participate in," said Burrell, adding " ... but, of course, the golden prize is to qualify for Brazil 2014, a qualification that will commence in 18 months."

This time, Burrell says the federation will allow local coach Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore the job of marshalling the World Cup qualification.

A good coach

"It is the view of this administration that the coach's job is going to depend on his success," Burrell stated. "So far, Theodore (Whitmore) has displayed maturity and a high level of professionalism, which are hallmarks of a good coach and with that I am confident he'll gain the necessary experience to become a good national coach."

Whitmore's ascension to the coaching position coincided with what Burrell labels the lowest moment of the last qualifying campaign.

"That World Cup (South Africa), to us as a people, would have been very special for several reasons and, therefore, having missed out on that was really disappointing," Burrell reflected.