When the referee blew the final whistle on Wednesday, February 2, 2022 it signalled the end of Jamaica’s slim hope of qualifying for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Not even the lights at the National Stadium could penetrate the doom and gloom that had engulfed the nation’s football as the Reggae Boyz suffered defeat at the hands of one of the weakest Costa Rican teams assembled in recent memory.

While some will point to occasional flashes of brilliance from the team and few instances when they had their opponents on the back foot, one cannot shy away from the glaring reality that the overall display during the current campaign has lacked the requisite quality to warrant a place in world football’s biggest showpiece. Hence, it is no surprise that Jamaica has only managed seven points with a solitary victory to date.

It is rather unfortunate that the Boyz have been eliminated and, in the process, killed the dreams of a nation that has been yearning for another World Cup appearance. Nevertheless, this disastrous campaign should be the catalyst to a comprehensive revamp of the nation’s football.

With early elimination from World Cup contention, fingers have been pointing regarding the possible causes of the cataclysmic showing by the team and who should be held accountable. In my opinion, there are a multiplicity of factors that have led to the current struggles of the Reggae Boyz and the overall rickety state of affairs of Jamaica’s football. Chief among them is blundering federation at the helm. Furthermore, our football is suffering from limited resources to effectively develop the sport, a lack of quality players, and the lack of a head coach with international pedigree.

In any sector or field the buck stops with leadership. Therefore, it is imperative that those who have been entrusted to lead display the necessary vision so that the individuals they lead have the relevant tools and resources to succeed through strategic planning and organising, as well as decisive execution.

Unfortunately, Jamaica’s football is being governed by an administration who has failed dismally at executing the most basic functions of its job. It is well documented that, on multiple occasions, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) has dropped the ball on basic administrative duties, including making travel arrangements for players and arranging matches. Frankly speaking, the JFF is renowned for mediocrity and anyone who closely follows the sport in Jamaica will attest to the fact that our football has been in a state of stagnation and urgent intervention is needed to stem this embarrassing tide and bring back some semblance of order and leadership to the governance of the sport.

Since assuming the reins in 2017, following the passing of the late Captain Horace Burrell, the current JFF administration has not covered themselves in glory, and their lack of vision is a major contributing factor to the embarrassing state of affairs of the nation’s football. While the blame cannot be laid solely at the feet of the JFF, they should shoulder a great portion of the responsibility.

The lack of resources, especially funding, has hindered Jamaica’s football for eons. However, this has become more obvious since the passing of Cpt Burrell, whom it was reported spent millions of dollars of his personal funds to keep the programme afloat in years gone by. Nevertheless, with the current administration failing to earn the confidence of corporate Jamaica, sponsorship for the national programme has dried and the JFF is forced to depend on money from Fifa.

With money holding the key to the growth and development of the sport, the nation continues to grapple with sub-par facilities, which means that our players are operating at a great disadvantage and do not have the basic tools to effectively hone their craft. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the onus is on administrators to formulate strategies to address these issues and move the sport forward. However, the current JFF has not shown the vision and the capacity to address these challenges, even if they were to be given another two decades.

It can be argued that when Jamaica qualified for the 1998 World Cup the nation was producing several quality players who were able to hold their own on the international stage despite having limited resources at their disposal. After the qualification, the country continued to produce decent players, some of whom matriculated into professional clubs overseas. However, over the last decade, I believe that we have witnessed a regression in the quality of players produced, especially locally, and this has also affected the performance of the national team at all levels. With a few exceptions, Jamaican-bred players have struggled to transition directly to clubs in Europe or even the top tier of football in the US.

Over the last 15 years we have seen little or no improvement in the local Premier League, which has resulted in the JFF relying on players based in England, some of whom are average at best and have no genuine desire to don the national colours.

Gone are the days when several talented players were coming through the ranks and providing the national coaches with options to assemble teams that could hold their own on the international stage. Although some pundits have argued that the Reggae Boyz have underperformed as this is one of the strongest Jamaican teams assembled for a World Cup qualifying campaign, many of our players are not good enough in my estimation.

Despite several of our players failing to come to the party, the lack of quality coaching played a major role in the team’s disastrous run. Before and during the current campaign, Jamaica has not exhibited a philosophy or style of play and as result, both Theodore Whitmore and Paul Hall have to take responsibility. Match after match it was difficult to identify the tactics of the team; hence, they were easily picked off by superior coaches. For example, we have conceded several goals from the flanks due to the full backs tucking inside and playing very close to the centre backs, leaving opponents with time and space to put crosses in. There was no evidence that this was addressed from the outside looking in.

On the other hand, the inability of our coaches to exploit the weaknesses of opponents was obvious and painful to watch. In the Costa Rica game, for example, the Central Americans stood off and allowed Jamaica time on the ball. However, the Reggae Boyz did not adjust and increase the tempo of their passing, allowing their opponents to easily maintain their shape.

Jamaica’s football is currently at its nadir and requires an immediate revamp from top to bottom, with individuals having the requisite vision being given the mandate to pick up the pieces so that the sport will not perish locally.

jerdaine.sterling@hotmail.com