A few months ago, I wrote about why Chelsea and Manchester United should stick with their managers despite rough starts to the season. They were in a transitional period from being at the top of the sport, thus the extra pressure, and both were operating under subpar head offices/CEOs. The modern world is one of instant gratification, but oftentimes slow and patient projects reap the best results. It took a while, but towards the end of the season both clubs had breakthrough periods or results that justified this. Chelsea finished the season on an impressive run, unbeaten in their last 6 games while winning 5, finishing 6th when they were languishing around 11th for most of the season. They also lost 1-0 in the FA cup semifinals to run away favorites Manchester City, and could feel hard done by with the loss as well. Manchester United’s league finish wasn’t as impressive, coming 8th, which was their lowest for decades, but they also finished the year with a trophy, beating Manchester City in the FA cup final in a huge upset. Manager Erik Ten Hag therefore has won trophies in back to back seasons, and after there were rumors he would be sacked after the final (due to their poor finish and general expectations they would lose the final) he instead was kept in the job, showing that their new ownership understand that it is an extensive project beyond just the play on the pitch, and that stability is key in times like these. The same however could not be said for Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino however, as he left the club at the end of the season via mutual consent. It is thought that those in power at Chelsea did not feel that they improved quickly enough, and once again it acted in a ruthless manner. Since Thomas Tuchel was fired in September 2022, Chelsea has had 5 managers with the recent hiring of Enzo Maresca for the upcoming season (4 full time, as Bruno Saltor was only in charge for 4 days in the interim). Historically, during Chelsea’s great run over the past 20 years, they have been quick to replace managers and it has not stopped them from reaping success, but of late they have been in an extended period out of the Champions League, and it is undoubtedly their worst period since they joined Europe’s true elite two decades ago. Even the majority of fans, who wanted Pochettino fired earlier in the year, were stunned by the news, given that the club finally showed promise and progress, and it will be interesting to see if Chelsea truly start from scratch again next season. The lack of patience may result in them being stuck in the mid-table doldrums once more.
I brought up these examples because this relates to the situation the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is in currently. Since qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, it has been a futile mission every cycle since to qualify for the next one. Numerous coaches and JFF presidents have tried and failed. There has been a recurring theme of using foreign born players with Jamaican heritage to bolster the local ranks, as this worked so well in 1998, but without paying too much attention to the local game, this has not been sustainable nor has it encouraged much growth in the sport locally. In September 2022, Jamaica hired Icelandic coach Heimar Hallgrimsson with a plan to make the 2026 World Cup in place from early, as the 2022 World Cup was still a couple of months away. This would give him time before the qualifying process even started, and have a chance to truly develop the sport in the country as well as improving the current team. As expected, there were rocky periods and results, but he admirably gave local youth a chance such as calling up teenagers Tarick Ximenes, Dujuan Richards and Kaheim Dixon during his tenure, as well as he and the JFF working in tandem to bring even more foreign born talent in to help, such as Demarai Gray.
The 2023 gold cup started well, with Jamaica getting 7/9 points in the group stages, finishing second on goal difference to the USA. They got to the semi finals, losing to eventual winners Mexico, 3-0. This was the only poor performance of the tournament, as Jamaica was much better vs the USA, and collapsed vs the Mexicans after an early goal. The steady progress continued into the Nations League later in the year, as they shocked Canada in Toronto winning 3-2, to seal an aggregate victory and qualify for not only the nations league finals, but also the 2024 Copa America and the change to play against some truly top class teams in South America. Jamaica then went on to finish third at the nations league, but not without some drama, as they were seconds away from beating the USA in the semi finals before a last minute own goal condemned them to an extra time loss. They then went on to beat Panama in the third place game, and this is a Panama team that has been Jamaica’s bogey team for years. Again, clear signs of progress. Alas, there were murmurings of unrest from the time of the Canada fixture last September, and it later came out that he sold his home in Jamaica and moved back to Iceland, only coming back when he had duty. The fact that this had been in the water for so long suggests to me that it was a disagreement with the JFF, and less about the results, especially with the JFF’s track record. Expanding on this; they have had multiple payment disputes with the male and female teams in the past, as well as allegations of corruption. What further compounded issues was the Leon Bailey situation. Apparently coach Hallgrimsson tried to convince him to rethink his decision to reject a call up to the Copa America squad this past June, and this did not sit well with the players. What Bailey said exactly is for another time, but his comments were not well received by the squad and thus the coach’s actions resulted in him losing the dressing room. This may be one reason why the team performed poorly in the recent competition. I did not expect them to advance anyway, but I did not expect them to lose all 3 games, and definitely not in the way they lost the last one, having the appearance of a team that gave up. Coach Hallgrimsson is not without fault, as not calling up some players who definitely merited a spot as Jamaica is weak in their central midfield position (such as Jon Russell of Barnsley), and instead opted to play players out of position, which failed miserably. All that being said, the aim was never for Jamaica to take the Copa by storm. Yes, obviously a win would have been nice and making it out of the group would have been a welcome surprise, but at the end of the day the World Cup qualification was the goal. Mexico, while yes, have been poor of late and are there for the taking, usually have Jamaica’s number, and Ecuador are almost perennial World Cup qualifiers in recent editions in a much stronger confederation, and have players Jamaica could only dream of fielding. Meanwhile, the third team in their group, Venezuela, beat all three teams and clearly was the class of the section anyway. To qualify for the 2026 World Cup, Jamaica just has to be better than their CONCACAF rivals. There are 3+2 spots available. The first 3 spots are guaranteed to the top 3 teams in qualifying, while the final 2 are playoff spots, where the next 2 best teams will play in an intercontinental playoff to determine the last 2 spots at the tournament. The arguably 3 best teams in CONCACAF are already qualified by virtue of hosting the next tournament; The USA, Canada and Mexico. Jamaica will never have a better chance of qualifying. Playing against a team from a different confederation will be tricky, so Jamaica would want to be one of the top 3. Panama, Costa Rica and Jamaica are currently the next 3 best teams in the region, so realistically those 2 can be better and Jamaica will be fine, they just need to be better than the likes of Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, Honduras and other weaker teams in the region. Jamaica already made strides catching up to Panama under Hallgrimsson, so this is a real shame and continues the JFFs seemingly favorite trend of taking 1 step forward and 2 back. Hopefully, given the “easier” path to the World Cup this time, and the groundwork being laid, whoever coaches the ‘Reggae Boyz’ next will be able to lead them well, and just keep them better than their rivals. That bare minimum, is certainly not too much to ask. The country needs a World Cup appearance. Regional trophies, medals and morale boosting wins against stronger opposition should all be secondary to this, and thus the win over Panama should matter 10 times more than a loss to Venezuela, even if it was ugly.