CAPTAIN Horace Burrell is at his very best when marketing a product. So he could hardly have missed the opportunity to tell Jamaicans that Costa Rica were initially reluctant opponents for the Reggae Boyz in tomorrow’s friendly international at the National Stadium.

According to the Captain, who has been endorsed for another four years as president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Costa Rica — ranked at 53 by world football’s governing body FIFA — were reluctant because they claimed 82-ranked Jamaica were “not good”. With typical bravado, Captain Burrell declared he was looking forward to having a talk with the Costa Rican delegation after the game.

On cue, national coach Mr Theodore Whitmore says the ‘dissing’ by the Costa Ricans will spur his team: “That can only be a motivation for myself and the players…”

Fun and joke aside though, it is essential that the Reggae Boyz do well against Costa Rica tomorrow, 38-ranked Peru in Florida on Tuesday and in all other engagements building up to the Digicel Caribbean Cup at year end.

The top four in the Digicel Caribbean Cup will qualify for the increasingly respected CONCACAF Gold Cup next year, which will be followed by the long and thorny campaign to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals in Brazil.

Also, as Captain Burrell quite correctly reminds us, inadequate corporate support is hampering the football programme. The business community loves winners and will be far more prepared to pump money into football if the Reggae Boyz are perceived as such.

Left unsaid by the Captain is that a cash-strapped Government, pressed on all sides, will feel greater motivation to provide added substantial support if the Reggae Boyz are winning games consistently.

Much attention will be on Mr Whitmore, who last month continued his good run as national coach with a solid 3-1 away win over Trinidad and Tobago.

Such are the economic realities that the days of almost obscenely expensive overseas coaches are probably over — at least for the next several years. So it is important for all concerned that Mr Whitmore, arguably Jamaica’s most influential footballer ever, remains successful.

Of course, those who turn up at the National Stadium tomorrow will be focused on the Jamaican players and how well they are able to cope with the traditionally competent and highly professional Costa Ricans. The ‘old guard’ that represented Jamaica at the 1998 World Cup in France are now almost entirely gone from high level football — Mr Ricardo Gardner of Bolton FC in the English Premier League and goalkeeper Mr Donovan Ricketts (LA Galaxy, US Major league) are the two notable exceptions.

All of those on show tomorrow have come to the fore within the last decade and in most cases within the last five years. It’s their time now.