Theodore Whitmore, the head coach of the Jamaica Reggae Boyz has been fired. This comes after the JFF’s technical committee recommended his sacking almost one month ago. Paul Hall is expected to take up the job of carrying Jamaica to the World Cup next year.
Whitmore’s failing grade
The Reggae Boyz got off to a slow start, narrowly losing away to Mexico 2-1 in the closing stages when a draw seemly likely with just a few minutes to go.
They then produced a shambolic display at home to lose 3-0 to Panama, before earning a point on a 1-1 draw away to Costa Rica. In that match, they created numerous chances to win that game but ended with just one point from a possible nine.
In the second round of games, the team performed better, losing 2-0 to the US, before earning a 0-0 draw at home to Canada, then defeating Honduras 2-0 away to gather four points from nine.
In the third round of two games, the team gave up another late goal in a 1-1 result away to El Salvador, then were unfortunate to end with just a draw with the US at home 1-1. Against the USA, they missed an easy chance and then suffered further agony when the referee waved off what looked a legitimate goal by Damion Lowe late on. It was another two points from six games for a grand total of seven from 24.
The technical committee gave Whitmore a failing grade and as a result lost faith and confidence in his ability to take Jamaica to the World Cup..
In an interview earlier this month, technical Committee, Rudolph Speid said: “We believe that at this particular point in time seven [points] from 24 is bad any way you look at it, upside down, round the corner, round the back.”
Whitmore failed even with the tools to succeed
Speid also made mention of the tools Whitmore was given to make it as smooth and as comfortable for all concerned.
“As it relates to the equipment, by now we are first world and every coach should get that so let me not say it isn’t anything special we have done. We should be first world, we have drones, we have the equipment to massage your legs when you are finished playing, we have 360 cameras when you are training [so] we can assess everything, we have Instat program where we can look at the last 20 games that every player in the world plays. I mean it’s a private jet we fly on nowadays, we don’t fly on commercial flights. It’s a private jet we take to every match, [and] we have people in four-star hotels.”
Speid continued: “We put out all stops to make sure everybody is comfortable and then we did something that is unique, not even Captain Burrell [Horace] did it. We were able to tie down 60 players with contracts. You notice nobody is fighting about money these days? We have contracts with them until the end of 2023 with all the players. That was to make sure the players were available, but as to pick the team we never interfered, we gave him like 70 players and say go ahead, pick anybody you want, pick from this, and if you see anybody else, just tell us who they are and we go and get them to sign the contract and they are eligible to play, so that is what we have done.”
Paul Hall made his international debut for Jamaica in 1997, and helped the Reggae Boyz qualify for the 1998 World Cup. He played 41 games and scored 14 goals for Jamaica in his six year career for Jamaica.
The Reggae Boyz will have six more matches to make the final three automatic qualifiers for a place in Qatar.
Current point standing:
Canada – 16
USA – 15
Mexico – 14
Panama – 14
Costa Rica – 9
Jamaica – 7
El Salvador – 5
Honduras – 3
