PORTO FELIZ, Brazil – Alfredo Montesso is certainly no stranger to Jamaica.

Indeed, the Brazilian, who celebrates his 45th birthday today, has permanently etched his name in the annals of Jamaica’s football, having been the physical trainer of the historic Reggae Boyz squad which became the first English-speaking Caribbean country to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Finals in France under compatriot technical director Rene Simoes.

He made the transition from physical trainer to coach and returned to Jamaica in 2008 as Simoes’ assistant in the failed 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

To many that would have been the end of his relationship with Jamaica’s football, but for former Reggae Boyz star player-turned head coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, Montesso, or ‘Fredo’, as he is popularly called by his Jamaican colleagues, is the man he’s looking to, to help guide the Boyz back to the promised land, the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil.

Now ‘Fredo’ wants to combine the vast experience he has gained over these many years with the Brazilian philosophy, and professional on-field and off-field approach to inspire the Boyz to even greater heights.

When Whitmore was appointed head coach of the Reggae Boyz, he selected the experienced Bradley Stewart as his assistant, and the two worked hard and gradually raised the profile of the senior team to a more respectable position on the FIFA Rankings list, and successfully defended the Digicel Caribbean Cup.

However, following a short coaching stint in Brazil earlier this year, Whitmore announced that he wanted to move the programme in a new direction and Stewart would not be a part of it. And so the search for a new assistant coach began.

“I spoke to Alfredo on my short stint in Brazil (earlier this year) of a possible move back to Jamaica and he was quite interested,” Whitmore admitted to the Sunday Observer on Friday. “He said then that he had some challenges, but as soon as he had overcome them he would make himself available. I informed the JFF when I returned to Jamaica about the dialogue we had and as soon as he indicated to me that he was ready the Federation met with him and discussed the deal,” Whitmore further explained.

On reflection, Whitmore gave the impression that it was not a very difficult decision to select Montesso. He had made it clear that based on his experience, Jamaica’s football was lagging behind and he needed someone who could help to raise the bar.

“I’ve worked with ‘Fredo’ during the 1998 campaign when I was a player and he was the physical trainer, and we reunited during René Simoes’ second stint at the head of Jamaica’s football programme,” Whitmore reminded.

“I find ‘Fredo’ very knowledgeable about the game, he knows our culture, he understands our people and I think he has a great lot to offer to the team and Jamaica’s football.”

So far, so good. The duo appears to have hit it off seamlessly, if their relationship so far at the training camp here at Traffic Football Academy in Brazil is anything to go by.

“I think this is a nice blend and it is something I’m really looking forward to. We have a good working relationship. Everything is falling into place, there’s nothing to complain about at the moment,” declared Whitmore.

For ‘Fredo’ it is an opportunity to fulfil a long-time dream of becoming a head coach, and he’s thankful for the chance.

“The first thing that came to my mind was the relationship that we have constructed over the years. I was really excited to be remembered again, it was a new opportunity for me and when I talked to him (Whitmore) and Horace (Reid, JFF general secretary) about coming back to the national team to be his assistant and to be the head coach of the Under-23, I accepted because I decided that I would like to start a new phase in my career as well,” Montesso told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

“I think it was like when one plants a seed and treats it and then comes in the future and reaps the benefit in his life. I am really proud to come back to Jamaica and to work with the Jamaicans. I find some new friends and some old friends working together, so I am expecting to fulfil my contract with Jamaica in the best way possible.”

For him it was only natural to graduate from a physical trainer to a coach, having played the game in his homeland before qualifying as a physical trainer and then gaining the advanced level coaching qualification at the Rio Claro university in 1988.

He was working as a physical trainer when Simoes recruited him to join the Jamaican set-up in 1996, a relationship with the charismatic coach that lasted on and off for 17 years.

In 2005 he decided that he had had enough and wanted to move on to coaching, so he changed course. “This was a plan in my life, so everything is a step in the right way and being an assistant coach of the Jamaica national team is being on the way to becoming a head coach,” he advised.

“It was a good partnership with René, I learned a lot with him and with other another coach I worked with. I think the life is exchange, we exchange a lot of experiences, as with ‘Tappa’ now, I am learning some things with him, and he is learning some things from me, so we are exchanging experiences and I think this can be a good partnership.”

Like he did when Whitmore was a player, Montesso is liking Whitmore the coach. “He has changed a lot. The responsibility as a coach now, he gained a lot of experience when he went to England to play there, so his approach to the game today is completely different, much more professional. Of course because we mature during this period, so it is not different with him. Now I see him much more responsible, his knowledge of the game is at a high level today, so I think Jamaica is getting a lot with ‘Tappa’.”

He added: “And it helps because he is an idol in Jamaica. As a player he was magnificent, and now as a coach he is building his career in a very settled way, so I believe he can achieve good things with Jamaica.”

For Montesso there are no illusions. He knows a lot has to be done to move the programme forward, but he’s prepared to try.

“I think that we have to improve our qualitative and team game. If we compare the team that came here in 1995/96 with the team today, we are far, far better than what we got then. Not to talk about the quality, because the quality of the guys who came then was tremendous, as we have now, but the exposure that these guys have today is completely different than what we had before, so when we come to the practise and we adapt to one type of session with them, they receive it more easily today, because the exposure is much better,” he opined.

“The football around the world is developing, so we must be better today than we were then in order to qualify for the next World Cup.”

And looking ahead to the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which kicks off in the US on June 5, Montesso said the whole team has got to be confident, committed and prepared.

“I think that we have to go to the Gold Cup to be a contestant, we cannot just go there to participate in the tournament. We have to think seriously to be one of the contestants, to be the champions.

“We know that it will not be so easy, we know that we have to improve and play a better game, and a better team game, but anyway I think if we get the team committed to play one way to be compact, to follow the instructions of the coaching staff, I think that we can do something very good at the Gold Cup.”

The assistant coach was also pleased with the attitude of the 16 players, who are here for the training camp. “I think they are in a good mood, because we have met before, we have trained before, I think it is just two or three of them that this is the first time that we have met.

“The friendship must be there, but it cannot be mixed with the seriousness that we have to put in the game, so anything that we have to decide, anything that we have to do with them, we must do independently of what the friendship is. Professionally, we work in the field, off the field we enjoy our friendship, they understand that, but we have our responsibilities to fulfil,” he concluded.