UNEASY, they say, lies the head that wears the crown, and the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and its president Captain Horace Burrell, in particular, would have been in some amount of discomfort over the past few days.

We say so because the JFF has come in for severe criticisms over its 23-man roster for the 2011 edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup Tournament, slated to kick off on June 5 in the United States of America; the ongoing training camp in Brazil; and, of course, the unavailability of some invited players.

The inclusion of veterans Messrs Ian Goodison and Tyrone Marshall, both nearer to the age of 40 than 30 raised eyebrows. Mr Goodison was 38 last November, while Mr Marshall is 36.

Over the past two years, neither player appeared to be in the plans of head coach Mr Theodore Whitmore. So it came as a shock when their names were included for the Gold Cup. To this newspaper, their selection seemed a retrograde step. Having enquired of Mr Whitmore, we are prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

According to the coach, young, quality central defenders were not making the required transition from our local leagues to the higher international arena. Both veterans, he argued, were still playing successfully at the professional level and had much to offer.

The selection of the squad aside, the manner in which players arrived in Brazil for the training camp hinted of a shambolic federation. Six players arrived on Tuesday morning, two on Wednesday morning, four on Thursday morning and four more on Friday morning, just five hours ahead of the team participating in its first practice game.

To compound the embarrassment, Mr Goodison has since been dropped after failing to travel from Kingston with the last batch of players yesterday.

We know the JFF’s general secretary Mr Horace Reid as a true professional, and in an environment where finances are scarce, we asked questions about what appeared on the surface to be a failed operation.

This training camp, we are told, had been organised from March, with the intention of having all players available. We are advised by JFF officials that the cost for the camp is about a quarter of what it would have cost elsewhere, even with facilities of a lower standard.

Having put the plan in place, the JFF found that Murphy’s Law stepped in and everything started going wrong. In addition to player injuries, there is the never-ending tug-o-war between club and country over the release of players and the strike by the air traffic controllers, which disrupted travel plans.

In fact, it is being suggested that had it not been for the “expertise” and “connections” of JFF officials, the training camp could have been more severely affected than has been the case.

In the end, six players — all involved in Major League Soccer in North America — were excused from the training camp for one reason or another.

Regarding the ‘club versus country’ situation there is always a delicate balancing act for national associations such as the JFF. Those clubs wishing to hold on to crucial players, despite international engagements, will push the proverbial envelope as far as possible. And though the JFF has written to the FIFA and CONCACAF to express dissatisfaction with the attitude of some clubs, it has to remain mindful that over the long run it will have to seek favours from those clubs from to time. Those favours will include the release of players for friendly games leading up to and in-between World Cup qualifiers which start later this year.

It is a delicate and tricky situation and the JFF has to tread carefully for its own sake, and that of the players.