Congrats and good luck, Jamaica

Tony Becca, ON THE BOUNDARY

When the referee blows his whistle to signal the end of CONCACAF's Under-17 final this evening at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, Catherine Hall in St James, the accompanying cheers will will not be for the home team, for the obvious reason that Jamaica did not make it to the championship match.

The victory cheers will be for either Canada or the United States of America (USA), who defeated Jamaica 2-0 in Friday's semi-final.

It would have been wonderful had Jamaica got to the final, and better still had they won the tournament, had they defeated the USA and then beat Canada to become the princes of CONCACAF but when it comes to the big picture they lost nothing.

The regional tournament served as one of the qualifiers for FIFA's Under-17 World Cup. It was known from the beginning that the top-four teams in the tournament would qualify. To qualify was Jamaica's dream, and after some intense training in Brazil, Jamaica drew 2-2 with Trinidad and Tobago, beat Guatemala 1-0, and defeated Honduras 2-1 to march into the semi-finals and into the World Cup.

The Jamaicans are still celebrating their achievement, and deservedly so, although, World Cup or no World Cup, I believe that victory would have been sweeter than a top-four finish.

It was great, however, to note the satisfaction and to witness the happiness of the players, the management team and the top brass in the football federation in making it to the final.

more money

Head coach Wendell Down-swell said it was down to hard work, motivation, and self-belief, veteran coach Bradley Stewart said it was down to the caches and the pool of talent available, and Howard McIntosh, head of the Jamaica Football Federation's (JFF) technical committee, said it was due to the technical committee's programmes, and some of that, if not all of that, may be true.

The happiest one of them all, however, was Captain Horace Burrell, the president of the JFF.

Burrell never missed a chance to ask for more money, and certainly, he did not miss this one. Like a true leader who, because of his circumstances, is accustomed to asking, Burrell was early on the ball, and passionately so.

After praising the youngsters and saying how good they are and what greatness they have achieved, Burrell reminded the country that "we are going to require a lot of help from the Government and the private sector if we are to achieve the objectives that we have set for these youngsters" and that "part of the plan is to keep them together as a unit, and that is going to take some financing".

I do not know what Burrell meant when he said that he plans to keep the youngsters together as a unit, but I was pleased to hear him say that keeping them together, for camps and things like that, could impact on their schooling and most importantly, that he would have to find the resources to provide them with tutors so that their academic performances do not suffer.

unite the people

I wish him well, but I have heard that before, from the National Council on Sports, and from many national sport associations.

In referring to the power of sports, Burrell also talked about football's ability to unite the people, to make them happy, to inspire the nation to greatness, and as an example, he mentioned 1998 and the happiness, the good feeling around, when the Jamaica senior football team qualified for the World Cup finals in France.

"That is the power of sports," he said, "and those who can help the development of sports need to take note of what we are doing today."

Downswell, Stewart, McIntosh, and Burrell are right, and like them, every Jamaican should be happy for these young Jamaicans and should be proud of their achievement.

This is only the beginning, however. The toughest part is still to come, and for those matches, we wish them well.

I remember Jack Warner, the president of CONCACAF and a vice-president of FIFA, recently lamenting, right here in Jamaica, that Caribbean's teams, including Jamaica, seem to play well to reach a tournament but do not play well in a tournament.

According to Warner, Caribbean players seem satisfied with having been there, and on many occasions, that seems to be the case.

In Mexico, Jamaica will be rubbing shoulders with the world's best, and our goal must be to go there and try to win, to improve the brand.

Jamaicans will not be satisfied with simply sending a team to Mexico. Jamaicans will only be satisfied if when the players get there, they play well, they display their talent, and win, lose, or draw, they give it their best shot, thus forcing the Mexicans to remember, after the tournament, that Jamaica were there.