Forget 2014, plan for 2018

By Orville Higgins

It's next to impossible for Jamaica to qualify for the next World Cup in Brazil. Our only realistic chance is to win the next four games and hope for a series of results to go our way. But when you have lost your last three games, expecting to win the next four is asking a lot.

Realistically, then, we can only hope for 2018. Here is some advice for the JFF.

The habit of running to England for players, on the eve of crucial World Cup Qualifiers, must be dispensed with for good. I have no problem with getting players to bolster the squad; indeed, at times it is absolutely necessary, but it cannot be at the eleventh hour.

Those who have a genuine interest in representing Jamaica must show their hand, at least a year before we start a qualifying campaign. That way, they will be able to blend in with the team, play a series of practice matches together, develop a chemistry with the rest of the players, and give the coach an opportunity to see how best they can integrate.

If they can't commit to the programme well in advance of the next set of qualifiers, I say we leave them where they are. These players should consider themselves as part of a national team, prepared to put in the hard yards from the very beginning, and must not see themselves coming to 'save' Jamaica when the competition is at a delicate stage.

To use a relay example, if they can't be part of baton-changing practice well in advance of competition; if they can't run the lead-off leg or the backstretch, they must not be allowed to claim the glamorous anchor leg.

On the subject of a coach, the JFF must be careful. The experiment with 'Tappa' (and it was an experiment) should never be repeated. Tappa's track record as a coach was neglible prior to being the national coach. His coaching résumé was quite ordinary, and in the end, this may have been his biggest downfall.

Coaching at that level, like playing, is about practice. It's about making big decisions in the heat of battle. It is about galvanising both fans and players towards a common cause. Hindsight makes us all geniuses, but putting somebody unaccustomed to all that and expecting them to succeed was a huge gamble.

Coaching is never an exact science. There is no formula for success that works every time, but there are some mistakes that we shouldn't make again. Whoever takes the reins as new national coach must be accustomed to the atmosphere of coaching in big games, and must be someone who should be able to get all the players behind him, whether by cracking the whip or by gentle persuasion.

preconceived biases

If the JFF can attract a known international coach, that would be ideal, but he must be brought in now with 2018 in mind. Not that local coaches couldn't do it, but with a local representative, there is always the perception that he could come with preconceived biases.

Plus, with a local coach, there will be too many people in his ear telling him who to play, and what to do, and at times that leads to utter confusion and can be counterproductive.

Let us be brutally honest. When we have so many players playing professionally abroad, a local coach who 'merely' plies his trade in our premier league, which we all agree is of no great standard, may struggle to get the respect of a majority of the players over whom he presides. It's hard for some of these overseas professionals not to see the local coaches as small fry in the scheme of things.

Finally, the JFF must try to keep a young squad together that is locally based. Whatever else they do, they must have a set of local Boyz playing together regularly. This group must be kept together until the next set of qualifiers in 2016 and should be seen as the core of the 2018 squad.

One suggestion could be having an Under-20 team in the local premier league. They don't play for points; merely for experience. The JFF can forget about 2014, start planning for 2018 now, or be prepared for another round of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!

Orville Higgins is a broadcaster and talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.