KANSAS CITY, Kansas:

Senior men's national team football head coach, Winfried Schäfer, has already expressed a desire to remain in Jamaica and work on constructing the game on a long-term basis.

So, too, has the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), through its president, Captain Horace Burrell, who said he is seeking sponsorship to take care of the important element linking the two, the coach's salary.

If all come to fruition, the goal of the sport's ruling body in this country is to keep the coach here for a four-year span to cover a World Cup cycle.

This time though, the coach explained his functions would be different, as he would now be working on a raft of activities - covering practically every facet of the sport - for its improvement.

German coach Schäfer replaced Theodore Whitmore as Reggae Boyz head coach for the final four matches of this CONCACAF World Cup qualifying series. His brief tenure begun draws against Panama (0-0) and Costa Rica (1-1) and ends with the final game in Kingston on Tuesday night against Honduras.

"I've talked with Captain (Horace Burrell) and we need more and better work in the league, the players to be more professional.

"I want to help the coaches, I want to help the clubs, maybe I make the talents come all to me for some days and go back," he added, in reference to a system of continuation for national team training. "This is only a concept now."

The desired intent, it is hoped, would help to build team understanding and foster relationships between local players in the national pool.

Having watched some matches in the local Red Stripe Premier League (RSPL), Schäfer observes that the poor state of playing surfaces rank highest among deficiencies, while players need to be better at tackling.

"The local matches, one of the biggest problem is the field is not good. I saw yesterday (Sunday) in Waterhouse (Waterhouse Stadium), in Spanish Town (Prison Oval), that it's not easy for the player to play one, two-touch football," he referred to the RSPL's October 6 fixtures.

"Yesterday was two hard matches, there were many, many fouls, but that is not what we need - when you play international matches then you play the same style and the referee from the United States give you red card," he said.

Schäfer went on to underscore the wealth of talented players in the country and noted a plan to bring them under the JFF's umbrella.

"I want all players with big talent - 25, 18, 16, that is our future."

- A.B.