ASSISTANT coach Carl Brown returned with the Reggae Boyz from Brazil yesterday optimistic about Jamaica's chances in their World Cup quest which begins on July 16.
Brown said that despite the fact that Jamaica lost their technical director Sebastiao Lazaroni in Brazil after less than three months in the job, the two-week training camp was not a waste of time.
"The good thing about it is that we had the opportunity to get the players there, for them to know each other," Brown told the Gleaner.
Brown added that it would have been better to have the majority of the players for two or three weeks with the team but there was benefit derived from the gathering.
"We were pretty pleased. I, in particular, was happy when Walter Boyd came. His condition was fairly good. He played one game and was going hard throughout the match and talking to him I found out that he was actually doing some work by himself."
After drawing their first game 1-1, the Reggae Boyz lost another two matches 1-2 before winning their final game 3-2 against Second Division Etti. For Brown the team gave a good display.
"The team did well. It started to show that fighting spirit from the game we played against Atletico. We were down 0-2 at half time but came back to score in the second half.
"The team fought hard throughout the match. Against Etti we went 1-0 up and they equalised. We went 2-1 up and they equalised again before we eventually got the winner late in the game. The whole fighting spirit and the enthusiasm of the players has been good."
In Brown's eyes the departure of Lazaroni will not have a negative impact on the players.
"I do not believe that he had spent enough time with the players to really leave a personality and to get attached to them."
According to Brown Lazaroni's departure has not adversely affected the preparation of the team because 'before we left here it was in the air.'
"While we were in Morocco at the tournament it was in the air, in Fort Lauderdale for one of the practice matches... it was always there so to the players it was not really news or anything surprising when they heard that he had resigned."
Lazaroni's decision to quit at the time he did, Brown said, was premature.
"Personally I believe that his decision was premature and he probably made that decision long before we went to Brazil," said Brown.
"We are talking about players who have been playing for close to 11 months of the year. When you look around apart from (Theodore) Whitmore and (Marcus) Gayle all the other players who were absent had reason to be or were given permission."
Of Lazaroni's replacement Brown said: "I do not believe the players themselves are really into whether it is Lazaroni or de Oliveira. The players right now are focused on qualifying for the next World Cup and I strongly believe that whoever gets there will have to play catch up with the players. I have now seen that fire in the players."