For expert ESPN analyst and colour commentator Tommy Smyth, an Irishman by birth, countries like his own, Ireland and Jamaica, will always struggle to consistently make a mark on the global footballing stage, simply because of a lack of enough seriously talented players, in comparison to more respected football nations.

Noted for his high-pitched falsetto-type voice and his sharp opinions, Smyth, who has been leading ESPN's Super Bowl at sea coverage aboard Royal Caribbeans Navigator of the sea ahead of Sunday's NFL Super Bowl game against the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, drew several similarities between both nations during one of his filming breaks.

"Jamaica's football programme is unfortunately like the programme in my own country Ireland," Smyth surmised.

"We just don't have the amount of players coming through the system to have enough good players at any one time and so we will both continue to struggle for the most part in international football."

development programme

Smyth drew reference to Brazil's development programme, which is widely regarded as one of the best in the world simply because of the country's high rate of player export and pointed out that countries like Jamaica and Ireland need to pay more attention to unearthing more talent if they are to make a serious push in world football.

"In Brazil every year there are 38 State Championships being played so even if you only get one player out of every four of those championships, you have got a good international team whereas with Ireland or Jamaica, yes we have created some good players over the years, but it's not enough," Smyth pointed out.

"Players like Robbie Earle is obviously a great star and there is also (Theodore) Whitmore but the problem is we just don't see the volume of really talented players coming through and our goal in Ireland and I imagine Jamaica's goal is the same, we can just try to do our best to get a team to the World Cup and see what happens from there."

ESPN function

Smyth, who was also in Jamaica last year for an ESPN function, also took time out to speak of his fondness for the island and its people and shared an experience he had with a Jamaican teen while on the island.

"It was some of the greatest experience of my life I never enjoyed anything so much," said Smyth of his time in Jamaica.

"There was one story that really touched my heart. There was this one kid 16 or 17 years old and he told me that he got up at 6am from Kingston so that he could come over to see us in Montego Bay and when I asked him why he said because he saw us on Soccernet Press Pass all the time and he really wanted to see us in person."

"It was so touching to see that you can touch peoples lives like that and have that sort of influence on them. Sometimes you sit in the studio and you do your show, you don"t know what people's reactions will be but seeing something like that was truly heart-touching, it was amazing," Smyth added.