Coach Carl Brown is thrilled at the prospect of the Cayman Islands taking on the new-look Reggae Boyz in two matches this week.
Brown knows how to get the best out of his squad. |
The technical director has been immensely successful in his year at the helm in Cayman and sees the two games on Wednesday night and Sunday at the Truman Bodden Field as a natural succession to the development of football here.
New Jamaica head coach John Barnes arrives at the Owen Roberts Airport this morning for a week’s training camp alongside interim coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore and Brown can only see positives from having the Reggae Boyz here.
‘This is great for us,’ he said. ‘I’ve known John Barnes over the years and followed his exploits in England. He is a local football idol in Jamaica and it’s great he’s come back to his homeland to be coach and develop Jamaican football.’
‘It’s always great to play teams ahead of us and it’s good for the development of Cayman football.’
‘My players are looking forward to the game and it’s important for the spectators to see a good game and appreciate this is what they are paying for. I want them to want to come back to see us play again.’
Brown has seen Cayman shoot 22 places up the FIFA rankings this year, one of the best improvements out of all 200-odd countries. In fact, in December 2007, Cayman were 192 in the world rankings, their worse ever. They are now 162. Brown deserves credit for moulding a team of amateurs with only one full-time pro – keeper Tuda Murphy – into a side gaining respect in throughout the Caribbean. Cayman Islands Football Association president Jeffrey Webb has worked tirelessly too to boost Cayman’s development and by finding the enormous funding to bring the 30-strong Jamaican squad over, he has reinforced his commitment to seeing Cayman improve.
Barnes, 45 on Friday, is relatively inexperienced as a coach but has Whitmore’s thorough knowledge of the local Jamaican scene as back up. Barnes is likely to monitor the top Jamaican players in England and the rest of Europe and Whitmore will concentrate on developing the talent in Jamaica.
Brown was head coach of Jamaica five times and was the assistant to Rene Simoes when Jamaica historically reached the World Cup Finals in France in 1998. That was the first time an English-speaking Caribbean country had got that far and up till then they were the smallest nation – with 2.9 million – to reach the World Cup Finals. (Trinidad and Tobago’s 1.3 million population beat that record at the 2006 World Cup.)
Brown warns expectant Jamaicans though not to expect too much from Barnes. Jamaica need to win their next World Cup qualifier at home to Canada on November 19 to stay on course for the next rounds on their way to the finals in South Africa in 2010.
Having lost two of their first three and drawn the other, coach Rene Simoes was sacked and Whitmore did a fantastic job of keeping Jamaica in the frame with 1-0 wins against Mexico and Honduras.
Brown added: ‘There are things people need to understand and not to expect miracles. Barnes will be able to get to know the locals through Tappa but the overseas players arrive just before the games.
‘Barnes will have to rely on Tappa’s knowledge of the culture and information. I think they will work well. Also, the funding has to be in place for what they want to do.’
Barnes won 79 caps as an England international in a glittering career which saw the heights with Watford and Liverpool.
Brown was pleasantly surprised to see him do so well. ‘John was just an average kid when I knew him as a boy in Jamaica. But he progressed partly through his dad, Ken’s involvement because Ken was a good player in his time and had a passion for the game.’
* The Cayman v Jamaica matches are on Wednesday 5 November and Sunday 9 November at Truman Bodden Sports Complex at 7pm.
Tickets are on sale at the following places; all Western Union outlets, Funky Tang, Captain’s Bakery, Latin Taste and Digicel in Camana Bay.
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