Jamaica's coach Theodore Whitmore - File

Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

Jamaica senior men's football team head coach, Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore, has been spared the axe despite failing to guide the country past the first round of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Cup.

Captain Horace Burrell, president of Jamaica's Football Federation (JFF), was adamant that it would not be business as usual after the team finished at the bottom of their four-team group, with a solitary point from three games earlier this month.

"I am still adamant about it and this is why I say Theodore Whitmore will continue in his job as head coach, no other decision has been made," Burrell told Star Sports.

"I do not want to be premature, so I will not make any other announcement as it relates to the national senior programme.

"Having inside knowledge of the whole thing, I have made the decision that Theodore Whitmore will keep his job, but we have not made any decisions on anybody else. At this time we felt that it was necessary to have some leadership in the national programme, because we are too near to the qualifiers."

Burrell had ordered the chairman of the JFF technical and development committee, Howard McIntosh, to do a post-mortem of the tournament and prepare a report within 72 hours after the team exited the tournament, which was held in Antigua.

Uncertainty

There is now uncertainty surrounding the future of the Brazilian trio of technical director Walter Gama, his son Luciano Gama, who is head coach of the National Under-20 team, which is through to the final round of qualifiers for the 2013 Youth World Cup and senior team assistant coach, Alfredo Montesso. The Brazilians joined the coaching staff in May of last year.

"I have not gone through the technical committee report, because I returned to the island this (yesterday) afternoon," Burrell said.

"We will await the comprehensive report, but Whitmore has been retained as coach of the national senior team and as it relates to all the other staff members we haven't made any decisions as yet."

Burrell, who has been the visionary behind all of Jamaica's World Cup appearances at varying levels, is now focused on guiding the country to the 2014 World Cup. The Reggae Boyz will continue their quest when the final round of qualifiers gets under way on February 6, next year, with an away match at high altitude against Mexico, in the world famous Azteca stadium.