Something away from football now. In 1993 a boy born in England to Jamaican parents was murdered by a racist gang in a area of London where 3 other blacks had been murdered in racist attacks in the 3 years before this attack. The police didnt investigate the case because the boy was black. Later the police were found guilty of being a racist organisation but nobody was convicted of this boys murder still. The boys name was Stephen Lawrence who was layed to rest in Jamaica with his granny and 18 years later justice has finally been served. 2 of the 5 killers were convicted of murder today thank Jah. His mum and dad wont get their son back and his brother wont get his brother back but maybe get a little peace at long last and the same for the soul of Stephen Lawrence, a boy nobody will forget.
I forget to say that I contacted Raheem Sterling aswell. I contacted him when I 1st heard about him on this forum a couple years ago by a personal message. He has moved up the ladder since then so I had to just post a message on his wall this time but as long as he gets the message (play for Jamaica) I dont really care.
Canada have anounced friendlies for the fourthcoming fifa dates. Does anyone know if we have announced our games for the next fifa dates ? We need the dates for preparation badly, because things are moving in the right direction but the players need game time to understand their roles in the team and if the qualifiers started today I wouldnt be confident of them performing at their highest level because the system is new to them, and also we need to look at more players before the qualifiers start to see who can do their jobs in the new system and who needs to go for real.
As I said before I have been trying to give the English born players some encouragement to play for yard. Another forum member is trying and maybe other members of the forum are too. But can everybody hit up facebook and do the same because Canada and USA are recruiting and we need to do the same to have the best chance of qualifying for the world cup. At the very least everybody send a personal message to Garath McCleary and tell him to speak to Mcgugan and contact the JFF. Maybe it wont work but I know that anybody reading hundreds of messages from Jamaicans asking them to join the squad will surely feel wanted and give it serious consideration.
@ Ric and Reggae boy-----> How good of a player is Tristan Daine Plummer (born 30 January 1990 in Bristol)? He represented England at u16, u17 and u18. He currently plays for Portimonense S.C. in the Portuguese league...
With us carrying a good world ranking into qualification we enter this years qualifiers as a seeded team in round 3
Group: USA JAMAICA GUATEMALA ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
If we make it through the 3rd round phase the final group will look something like this:
USA JAMAICA MEXICO COSTA RICA and 2 from CANADA, HONDURAS AND PANAMA.
The top 3 will have automatic qualification for the world cup and 4th place team will face a play off against the Oceana winners who will no doubt be New Zealand. How far does everybody think we can go ?
I have never seen him play. I heard about him when he was a schoolboy because I heard Arsenal were interested in him. He had problems adapting to 1st team football as an adult and struggled but he must have ability to play for England at all the youth levels and build up enough hype to get interest from Arsenal so I think he is worth looking at now he is playing regular in Portugal.
I personally think that despite reports of Antigua and Barbuda recruiting players, we will make it to the final stage of qualification without a problem. If we reach the final group things will be alot more difficult though. USA, Mexico and Costa Rica are better than us right now but I think the 4th place play off is a real possibility for us though. We will need to improve our performances to achieve that but we can do it. With new talented recruits anything would be possible, 3rd place or higher but in my opinion that will only be possible with top quality players joining the squad to compliment the quality we already have. What does everyone think ?
I watched some footage of Tristan Pummer on youtube. The clips I saw were short but showed that he is quick and has alot of natural ability. He looks like he is worth calling into the squad for the next friendlies because we need somebody to play in the whole between midfield and attack and he looks like he has that magic we need. He was wearing a Jamaica jumper in the interview I saw aswell which is always a good sign.
Jamaica is the only team that looks like not preparing for the 'fire and brimstone' competition of WC qualifying.
This seems eerily too similar to the last WC qualifying tournament, when a combination of arrogance and complacency...or just pure lack of international football knowledge and saavy had Jamaica missing out.
Mexico and the USA are a cut above the rest...every single other one of this potential final 6 teams can be beaten by Jamaica...as well as Jamaica beaten by them.
Costa Rica has quality...but an inconsistent mentality, especially when put under intense physical pressure...out of the top 3 quality teams, they are the easier opponent to beat...and Jamaica has beaten them in the past when it really counted.
If Jamaica does fail to have a real run at qualifying for Brazil, it will be down to nothing more than not being as prepared as the opposition.
I agree. Even without any new players we have a good enough squad to at the very least fight for the 4th place play off position. We are capable of beating anyone of the final 6 in a one off game including US and Mexico especially at home where we are usually good. I think 3rd place is the highest we can hope for but any lower than 4th place would be a serious disappointment even though the opposition will be tough. I agree that we are the only team not preparing and it could turn out to be a costly mistake because the concacaf region is strong now, we have a new system of play and a few new players so every possible practice match is needed. I dont understand what we are doing. Before getting quality teams to play us in a friendly would have been difficult because of our world ranking being so low that it would have looked like a pointless excercise and an unneccessary risk for them to play us. Now we have a decent ranking so it shouldnt be so hard for us to organise games but still nothings happening. Makes me so f*****g angry.
I agree. Even without any new players we have a good enough squad to at the very least fight for the 4th place play off position. We are capable of beating anyone of the final 6 in a one off game including US and Mexico especially at home where we are usually good. I think 3rd place is the highest we can hope for but any lower than 4th place would be a serious disappointment even though the opposition will be tough. I agree that we are the only team not preparing and it could turn out to be a costly mistake because the concacaf region is strong now, we have a new system of play and a few new players so every possible practice match is needed. I dont understand what we are doing. Before getting quality teams to play us in a friendly would have been difficult because of our world ranking being so low that it would have looked like a pointless excercise and an unneccessary risk for them to play us. Now we have a decent ranking so it shouldnt be so hard for us to organise games but still nothings happening. Makes me so f*****g angry.
Believe, RB...is not only you.
I can't begin to express my disappointment with my football country, Jamaica.
I grew up in Jamaica, am educated in Jamaica, has family ties from both sides of my Caymanian and Honduran family at the very highest levels of Jamaican society...learned and played football in Jamaica...has followed Jamaica ever since I was a child...so you can understand my frustration with Jamaica's current state of football.
This is also an accumulative disappointment of the last 13 years, when I was sure that WC qualification would have been the catalyst to push Jamaica to the next level...it has been anything but that...and the frustration does not stem from the Jamaican football community or football players...its the football leadership that is the problem.
The risk was always going to be that once the administrators get past the grassroots level, they would revert back to the average Caribbean administrator...use their position to bolster their own standing, and even sometimes financial status, without continuing to do the necessary work to push the game to the highest level possible...and keep it there.
If you look at the state of CONCACAF and the CFU right now, you see a refelection in the current state of the JFF...and why ?
Because this entire regional administrative system has been built on one fragile deck of cards with the CFU's rulers, Jack Warner and Horace Burrell being the base, thus Jamaica's and Trinidad's football being held to ransome by these two's political football careers...which have been brought to a screeching halt by FIFA...when Blatter kick weh Jack Warner foot, the entire deck of cards has come tumbling down...and taking Jamaica's football with it...I don't give a sod about Trinidad...I don't like those fkrs anyway...so if only them did fall with Jack..I wouldn't care a hoot.
back to football issues...you say that Jamaica has a good enough team to get through to the HEX without recruiting the handful of better players that are available and that we desperately need...I disagree...and why ?
Because that is taking a chance on just SCRAPING into the HEX, which the current squad is capable of doing...just like getting to the qrt finals of the GC...and not being prepared for the performance level required when there.
Just like at the GC 2011..perfect example is...Panama were capable of beating the USA in the early rounds, just like Jamaica was capable of getting to the qtrs...but neither team was capable of beating the USA, at the next level that it took to advance past them...the best teams are always capable of upping their performance a notch when required.
No serious football team starts a tournament qualifier with anything lest than their very BEST squad possible...that squad might not start the qualification process at its best...but that is the squad that will ultimately improve as the tournament advances...the USA has showed us this over and over and over again...ever since they busted Trinidad's arse in 1989 to get to Italia 90...why the [censored] Jamaica and Trinidad has proven to be such idiots to not have learned anything from the USA, while still criticising their football, is way beyond my comprehension.
A football squad is not built by calling in players in a couple of weeks when a competition demands it...a squad is built by bringing in players with enought time to integrate them tactically and socially as well...a football squad has to become a family...and this takes place over a period of time...they must gell, get to know one another and get along...both on and OFF the pitch.
If Jamaica is going to have a comparable competitive squad to PLAY at Brazil 2014, then Jamaica must do what the CONCACAF competition is doing and has done for years...build a squad to PLAY at the WC, not just to go through WC qualifiers.
Every single CONCACAF team already has their core squad of the country's best players...or are actively seeking out and recruiting those players from wherever they are...so that they begin qualifiers with the best team possible...Honduras, in the last WC, being a perfect example, starting the WC qualifiers with basically the same squad that eventually qualified and played at S. Africa...
While Jamaica's players ended up watching it at home on TV.
I work in a football environment where I see how things are done on a daily basis to keep a team as competitive as it can possibly be...
And right now, Jamaica is NOWHERE near the required level of work and effort for WC qualification.
1st thing, I feel your pain, believe me I feel it. 2nd thing, I am not saying that we should settle with the group players we have and not attempt to improve our player pool at all. I was only saying that with the group we have right now we still have a fighting chance is all. In my opinion the JFF, Tappa or who ever is to blame for the lack of recruitment needs to open their eyes to the level of concacaf competition and realise that this campaign will be a struggle unless they get active. To not have friendlies in place at this stage shows how little the JFF cares about our preparation. Its like they are saying the 3rd round of qualifying will be our preparation for the final phase which is the most ridiculous attitude you will find anywhere in International football today. Guatemala are no wheel chair football team and if Antigua and Barbuda have recruited the players their Wiki says they have then the JFF could get the shock that I will be praying doesnt happen. At full international level the set up has moved no where in the last 13 years for real and every other nation in concacaf outside the the west indies has moved miles in their thinking and this could cost us heavily later this year which is sad. JOKE TING
I went to watch us play a game in England a few years ago and the game kicked off late because we turned up 15 minutes before kick off. We didnt even have time to warm up before the game started and this is the kind of thing that makes eveyone vex. Our whole approach to things is 19th century.
If the people in charge of Jamaican football had Ric's attitude we could achieve anything and truss me I mean anything. If Tappa and the JFF got down to the basic serious work that is required we could not only qualify without a problem but go to Brazil feeling we could beat any1 and that we actually have a chance of going all the way to the final and if things were done right we could but now nobody on the forum is even confident we'll qualify and that down to the dinosaurs in charge of jamaican football
I am watching league 1 football live on sky. Joel Grant looks a good player. Hes quick and has good skill, ball control and awareness. When it comes to the recruitment of English born talent the word that is always appearing on the forum is COMMITMENT.This man has been a reggae boy from the start, representing us at u20 and u23 levels, nobody has shown more commitment to our cause than him. This is the the 1st time i have seen him and although Wycombe are being cut open(3-0 down at half time), Joel has performed well and looks a threat. I think he looks worthy of a place in our squad, not a starting 11 place but a place in the squad because he is a real reggae boy.
The Wycombe right back looks like a serious player, Marvin McCoy. He is very quick and powerful and guess who i just found out he plays for, Antigua and Barbuda. Mikele leigertwood (reading) is a good player, he is actually better than alot of our midfield players and is another 1 who actually plays for them aswell he has 8 caps. Josh Parker (Oldham) has 2 caps. Marc Joseph(kendal town) is an experienced player who is now semi-pro but has played for numerous pro clubs in England and he is their captain. They have 6 or 7 players in England and 1 in the U.S They wont make things easy for us and thats before the other names mentioned join their squad. Under estimating them could be our downfall because they already put Haiti who called up alot of players playing in France and Belgium out of the world cup SO I HOPE EVERYBODY INVOLVED IN OUR FOOTBALL SET UP INCLUDING OUR PLAYERS WILL TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY.
A needed boost for our backline. Damien Stewart has signed for league 1 team Notts County and today he starred as they kept a clean sheet and won against champioship team Doncaster Rovers. Now he will be playing regular 1st team football and I hope he is called into our squad for the next game who ever we play. He is a dominating figure, powerful in the air, strong and a good long range passer of the ball so this is a needed boost for our backline option. Stew peas is back
Nosworthy continues to play well for Watford on loan, Damion is back but they need to be in national team contention because everybody knows that is one of our weakest areas. Taylor gets alot of support from people on this forum saying " he is comfortable with the ball and has composure, good passing ". Maybe people have forget that he is actually a defender, so being able to pass, being good and composed with the ball is a waste of talent if he cant defend, which he cant. Defenders who cant defend are as much use to us as strikers who cant score or wingers that cant cross or midfielders that cant pass. We need to get back to the basics of defending and bring in some defenders who can actually defend like, Damion Delano Stewart and Nyron Nosworthy.
