BY PAUL A REID Observer writer
Friday, January 23, 2015
CATHERINE HALL, St James — One of the reasons the Jamaican Under-20 men’s team might have failed so badly in the ongoing CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is that players got too relaxed after they made the team, suggests head coach Theodore Whitmore.
Jamaica managed only two points in a 2-2 draw against Trinidad and Tobago in their opening game in Kingston and an error-filled 0-0 draw against Aruba in their final Group A game in Montego Bay Wednesday night.
Jamaica scored just two goals, both coming in the first game, and never threatened for a play-off spot that would see two additional qualifiers in addition to the two automatic spots that went to the group winners for the FIFA Wold Cup to be held in New Zealand May-June.
Whitmore told members of the media on Wednesday that players got relaxed after the final squad was named. “After the 20 were named, the players got relaxed knowing they could not be dropped from the squad,” the coach said.
He acknowledged that some players had not performed up to expectations, but refused to call names. He noted that for sure the overall the tournament proved to be “a series of disappointing results”.
One of the biggest issues, Whitmore trumpeted as a factor that led to the meltdown, was the perennial shortage of time for coaches to properly prepare teams for competitions.
“We just never had time for players and coaches to get to know each other,” he said. “We never had time to ‘chop and change’, and that is never good.”
“We need more time to prepare teams, not just this Under-20s, but the senior teams, all junior teams sand the women’s teams,” he said.
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Tournament a series of disappointing results, says Whitmore
