A lot of so-called football fans are today walking around with the proverbial egg on their faces after the performance of the Jamaican senior men’s football team in the first round of the Caribbean Football Union’s Caribbean Cup at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Head coach Winfried Schaefer and the man who hired him, Jamaica Football Federation’s boss Captain Horace Burrell, have come under tremendous fire in the wake of a string of losses to most vastly superior teams – some that were legitimate World Cup semi-final contenders.

A draw against Martinique in the opening CFU game only served to raise the noise level among those in favour of axing both Burrell and Schaefer. A dramatic turn-around, two straight wins, five goals and none against, have, however, changed the mood and the jeers that were rained on the team.

In all fairness, if the results were different this column would have joined the calls for their axing and the return of Bora Milutinovich, whose only crime was that he was hired by Crenston Boxhill.

This column, also, is being written a full 24 hours before the finals against long-time rivals Trinidad and Tobago, but in some regards the result of that game is not that important.

It is always good to win and no one can argue about what they saw as the Reggae Boyz members spent more time with each other, played good team football and showed promise of what can be, as they play together more often.

With qualification to the CONCACAF Gold Cup secured, more friendly games in the FIFA dates will only help, and if we win the competition as I expect we should, the prize will be the 2016 Copa America Centenario.

Many were expecting or even hoping the Boyz would have failed in this tournament, some pointing to their current FIFA rankings, which is well into the triple figures.

Even without key defensive players Wes Morgan and Adrian Mariappa – both ply their trade in the English Premier League — the Reggae Boyz gave up just one goal in three first-round games. As the saying goes, offence wins games, but defence wins titles.

Schaefer’s job was never easy, taking over at the end of a failed World Cup campaign, and then expected to perform miracles with a team that had to be travelling all over the globe to get quality friendly games, as he worked out which players best suited his system. Or maybe, to see what he had available and try to build a system best suited for the talents he had at his disposal.

Despite the obvious progress, it is difficult to judge the players from this tournament regardless of the outcome. The format of the tournament, which sees the best teams playing four games in eight days, is far from ideal. Forcing players to play every other day is tough, especially for those in the English League which is still not even a third of the way through.

But it was the best option if it was to fit into the FIFA international dates. It is still unfair for players, however, and hopefully, in two years’ time, organisers would have worked out an even better format.