BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Barbados have appointed Brazilian Marcos Falopa as their new technical director, on a six-month contract.

The 65-year-old, a former technical director of the South African FA, arrives in the post hoping to boost a country currently sagging at 169th in the FIFA World Rankings.

Significantly, Falopa has been installed just weeks ahead of the first qualification round of the CFU Caribbean Cup, and he believes if the national senior team put in the work required, they cannot only qualify for the eight-team final in Jamaica, but also reach the final four.

“Why does Barbados not make it? This is the question for me. I want to help in the football here but I need your help. The media is very important, coaches are very important, boys and girls playing football is very important,” he told reporters here.

“[Barbados] is no different than Jamaica’s boys, no different than the Canadian boys, no different than Brazilian boys. Their level of football I can say is not top but if they work hard we can get to the semi-finals.”

Falopa faces a Herculean task with a side that has never reached the final four and boasts a less than stellar record in the region’s premier football tournament.

In the last Caribbean Cup two years ago, Barbados failed to get out of the first round of qualifiers, after finishing second behind Dominican Republic in Group Four held in Bridgetown.

They suffered a similar fate in the 2010 campaign, finishing third in their first round qualifying group.

Falopa, a former technical director with the continental governing body for North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), says he also intended to focus heavily on coaching and building Barbados’ football from the club level.

“Coaching at the club level is very important because they deal with players every day so they will have a much better idea about their development than even the national coach who works with the players occasionally,” he stressed.

“Some of the best players come from communities all over the world and the same could be true of Barbados.”