WITH TWO recent friendly internationals and next month's scheduled return of René Simoes as technical director, Jamaica continues its preparations for what shapes up to be a very tough World Cup qualifying schedule for the 2010 Finals in South Africa.
Regional qualifying kicks off in February next year but Jamaica won't launch their campaign until June.
That is based on the presumption that it easily brushes aside its first challenge, which comes in the second stage of CONCACAF qualification - against minnows the Bahamas or the British Virgin Islands, who will battle in the initial phase.
Jamaican football teams have no real history of playing against these two countries. That is based on the fact that their rating is so low that they start off in the preliminary stages of qualifying for regional competitions and, because their standards are not high, they generally never make it far into the rounds.
As a matter of fact, FIFA has no record of Jamaica playing the Bahamas in a match among senior national football teams to as far back as 1970, and none against the British Virgin Islands through to at least 1987.
In junior competition though, the Bahamians, only this year, registered a shocking 1-0 victory over Jamaica in the Under-23 Olympic qualification series, which meant elimination for Jamaica.
However, the possibility of this happening is significantly diminished by the home-and-away format, which means even if Jamaica were to have an off-day against the 180th- ranked British Virgin Islands or Bahamas - who are ranked 171st - and not win one match impressively, it is unlikely that the disparities in talent and experience will allow repetition of such a scenario.
Trampled
Using the Caribbean Cup qualifiers in 2004 to illustrate this point, St. Lucia beat the BVI 1-0 in their first encounter, then trampled them 9-0 in the return tie.
Should they be disposed of as expected, Jamaica will likely end up in a semi-final grouping with Mexico (15th), Honduras (54th) and Canada (55th), that is if those teams advance as projected. Honduras will play either the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico while the Canadians face a tougher challenge against St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Vincentians played in Jamaica's semi-final grouping when the country qualified for France '98, giving the Boyz some amount of respite through two basically sure three-point matches.
Rankings apart, the class presented by this trio offers no such luxuries this time around and the ability of the Boyz in conjuring favourable results on the road against Canada and Honduras - especially - will significantly determine their fate.
Of course, winning matches against those two countries at home will be even more important.
Historically, results against Mexican teams have been fluctuating, moreso in bad ways for the Boyz.
Jamaica, though, produced a series of one-goal results in either team's favour in and around the '98 qualifying schedule, despite the aberration of that 6-0 debacle in Mexico when everything seemed to have gone awry. In three other contests, Jamaica won 1-0, drew 0-0 and lost 2-1.
Honduras were also in Jamaica's semi-final group during that successful campaign. After getting hammered 3-0 at 'The Office', the Hondurans gave Jamaica hell, literally, in San Pedro Sula, with drum-beating fans camping outside the Jamaicans' hotel the night before the game. Team members and Simoes himself actually got into a fracas with the folks depriving them of sleep in a nasty game ploy.
It backfired, but not after a gutsy display in which Walter Boyd, who had scored a double against Honduras at 'The Office', was dubiously given a double yellow card very early in the game. Team officials thought he had been deliberately targeted and Jamaica had to struggle against a vociferous crowd in the stadium with stands and people almost hovering over the players. Linval Dixon made more than one save on the line after Warren Barrett was beaten and that goalless away draw was significant in qualifying.
Through more tactical play in their own game, the Canadians have generally proven a tough nut for Jamaica, whether the matches are played here or in Canada. The cold climate has sometimes been blamed on that position, but that is not necessarily true as the Reggae Boyz have also found it difficult to beat Canada here as well.
In nine clashes dating back to 1992, Jamaica have won twice against Canada's four, while drawing the other three. Both victories came in Kingston and one of the draws was here as well.
Additionally, Mexico and Honduras were extremely busy last year, playing 21 and 16 matches, respectively. Canada have played nine.
Most of the players who played most of the matches for Jamaica last year may not be part of the team which will challenge these countries during the qualifiers.
However, the matches last month and others to come will give them added opportunities to sharpen for a tough World Cup qualifying schedule.
audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com
