Honduras' Emilio Izaguirre( left) shakes hand with Jamaica's Alvas Powell after the end of a 2014 World Cup qualifying match in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Tuesday. Honduras won 2-0. - AP

Western Bureau

Regardless of whether or not his resignation was voluntary or by force, I am of the view that the time had come for Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore to separate himself from Jamaica's woeful 2014 World Cup campaign, which is now a national embarrassment at best.

If the team was playing well and not getting the required results, one could argue for the retention of the coach. However, with the team playing poorly and looking so badly disorganised, in terms of cohesiveness and chemistry, something had to give and unfortunately for Whitmore, the axe fell on him.

While I have never played football at the national level, I think I have seen enough football in my time to realise that either through lack of proper preparation or the inability of the players to follow instructions, the Reggae Boyz have been making a mockery of the beautiful game of football, much to the chagrin of local fans.

Based on my experience, even the little boys playing in the various primary school leagues across the island know that defenders should work to prevent goals from being scored on their team; midfielders should act as a creative buffer between attack and defence; and forwards should do goal hunting.

However, watching the Reggae Boyz must be a nightmare for the purist because our defenders don't know how and when to tackle, our midfielders are ill-equipped to make even simple passes and we have forwards who go through an entire game without even making a token attack on goal.

Frustration

While it is probably easy for the nation to take out its frustration on the players and the coaches whenever we see the ridiculous happenings on the field of play, good sense would seem to suggest that we are in the position we are in because of lack of preparation and not the personnel at our disposal.

It should be noted that while the Reggae Boyz were basically fooling around ahead of their games against the United States and Mexico, those two countries, with their superior football pedigree, were getting themselves ready by playing friendly games against world power Germany and African powerhouse Nigeria.

While the coaches can be blamed for poor team selection and questionable tactics, when it comes to our failure to arrange international friendly matches, it is the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) and not the coaches that should be blamed. In fact, if one should consider the profile of JFF boss Captain Horace Burrell, the blame should fall at his feet.

Personally, I believe that whatever justification makes it okay for coach Whitmore to be fired, or asked to resign, is the same justification that should also apply to the JFF, inclusive of its so-called technical committee, technical director and the man at the top, the federation's president.

While Captain Burrell has repeatedly stated that team selection is the prerogative of the coaches, it is no secret that he was integrally involved in the recruitment of the overseas-based players, especially those who came in from England. As it turned out, those players were the ones who failed most miserably.

I do hope that instead of tossing coach Whitmore into the wilderness to please his detractors, the JFF should instead continue to work with him in terms of helping him to further develop his coaching skills so that if his services are required in the future, he would be better equipped.

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