FRANKFURT, Germany — Reggae Boyz coach Theodore Whitmore said he wished to lift his hats to his team after their impressive showing against South Africa in the face of very difficult circumstances.

He was referring to the fact that the Boyz arrived just mere hours ahead of the kick-off at the Offenbach Kickers stadium in the German city of Frankfurt following a rigorous trans-Atlantic journey

“I think it was a very good experience for the players and everyone involved with the team… What is true is that situations even worse can pop up at this level,” he said.

“I must congratulate them the way they dealt with the whole business and of course the performance. I am not too bothered by the scoreline, although if you look at it you could see that we could have gotten something out of the game,” added Whitmore, Jamaica’s two-goal hero against Japan at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Though jetlagged, the Boyz betrayed their weariness by offering a spirited performance where in a rare displayed they possessed most of the football and were very oragainsed in midfield and defence. And though he conceded two goals in a 0-2 loss, even goalkeeper Duwayne Kerr was in fine form, pulling off at least three brilliant saves.

“Overall I thought it was a spirited football match. It’s basically a squad of local-based players, and everybody went out there and gave 110 per cent and this speaks volume for the way forward for Jamaica’s football,” said Whitmore.

The former Jamaica midfielder who had stints as a professional in Scotland and England said the future of Jamaica’s football looks bright with the emerging talent and that was underlined in Wednesday’s game which had only one overseas-based player in San Jose Earthquake’s Ryan Johnson.

“I am very impressed with the players, some of whom I was working with for the very first time like (Xavian) Virgo, Kavin Bryan and Jevaughn Watson, and Romario Campbell came on and he was there too,” he noted.

He said with the right support from the Jamaica Football Federation and more time to work with the local pool of players, this team could become stronger and consequently more competitive at various levels.

“The most important thing right now is funding of the programme and that is very critical, we would certainly like to have camps, but you see the situation with the federation,” lamented Whitmore.

He said he was also encouraged by the soothing words of South Africa coach Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parriera.

“After speaking with the South African coach and the compliments he paid us is encouraging, and this shows that if we were getting games on a regular basis, it would be good for us,” said Montegonian Whitmore, who first shot to national prominence as a Seba United player.

At a most match press conference, Parriera had said the match-up against Jamaica was “the toughest we have played in a long time”, ranking the Boyz’s style of play and resistance as better than that of North Korea and Paraguay who Bafana Bafana played in recent friendlies.

In a friendly in Bloemfontein in South Africa last November, Parriera had a stinging criticism of Jamaica’s approach to that game, branding it “negative” and aimed at disrupting “the rhythm” of his team. That match ended 0-0.

South Africa, ranked 10 places lower that 78th-ranked Jamaica, are in Germany for a training camp where they are fine-tuning for their opening World Cup game on June 11 against CONCACAF kingpins, Mexico. The World Cup hosts are also grouped with mighty France and Uruguay.