Dear Editor,

With Jamaica’s World Cup football qualifying campaign teetering on the brink of dismal failure, the paucity of goals coming from the boots of the Regga Boyz is cause for real concern.

Earlier this week scores of supporters of the Waterhouse Football Club took to the streets to air their grouse about the non-inclusion of the local premier league’s leading goalscorer Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson. The protestors argued that, despite leading the league in goalscoring for the past three seasons, Anderson has not been given a fair shake to show his mettle at the highest level.

Do they have a point?

After all, the imported players, brought on board by the Jamaica Football Federation to boost the team’s chances to qualify for Brazil next year, have not returned on the faith put in them. In short, they have failed to hit the back of the net, especially the frontmen whose job it is to do so.

Anderson, while not being an overseas-based player, has shown, at least at the local level that he knows how to score.

Maybe, just maybe, the coaching staff could give him another look simply because he can do no worse than the forwards we have called up.

Anderson’s case brings into the spotlight another burning issue which JFF head, Horace Burrell, has tried to rubbish by pointing to Jamaica’s dismal performance in last year’s Caribbean Cup, where the team, made up of local-based players, failed to advance from the first round.

While the value of the overseas players cannot be downplayed, the question must be asked if there are no local players good enough to consistently play in the Reggae Boyz team.

Jermaine Hue’s masterly performance on Tuesday night is testimony that local-based players can stand up to the best. And the report cards for Alvas Powell and O’brian Woodbine do not showing failing grades.

When Jamaica qualified for France in 1998, the team did so with a mixture of local and foreign-based players.

Out of that came the rise of Ricardo “Bibi” Gardner, who performed admirably in the English Premeirship; Ian ‘Pepe’ Goodison; Walter Boyd; and Onandi Lowe, who also secured contracts to play overseas.

Reggae Boyz head coach, Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore, was also among the local-based players who represented well on football’s greatest stage.

Is the coaching staff clutching at straws?

Whatever team takes the pitch tonight, we as Jamaicans will nevertheless be rooting for nothing less than a victory to restore our faith in the campaign.

Anything less will be equal to disaster.

Patrick Junior

Spanish Town, St Catherine