In a fulsome presentation at the offices of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) on Tuesday February 25th, Jamaica’s head coach, German Winfried Schafer chided the state of football pitches in the country and suggested that it has hindered the development of the game football in the Caribbean country.
In a fulsome presentation at the offices of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) on Tuesday February 25th, Jamaica’s head coach, German Winfried Schafer chided the state of football pitches in the country and suggested that it has hindered the development of the game football in the Caribbean country.
Speaking at a press conference where his new assistant was revealed, along with a number of changes within the coaching set-up, Schafer voiced his displeasure at the surfaces that local players are forced to play on.
“The fields are catastrophic,” he complained. “One touch and two touch football cannot be played at any field. The players have to keep looking at the ball. Football in the States (United States), is not much better but their facilities are much better,” he stated in comparing with our near neighbours who have consistently qualified for the FIFA World Cup.
Critically, Schafer stated that all national teams, regardless of age group, will play the same system. The German stated that each team must play the same system so that the transition from one level to the next can be as smooth as possible. “If a striker from the senior team gets injured I should be able to call up one from the Olympic team (Under-23 team) to replace him. It must be easy,” he stated.
He also pointed out the need for players to play in the top leagues in Europe. “The national team is a mirror of the league. In Spain, all the players come from the youth system. Switzerland who will be playing in the World Cup has six players from the winning Youth World Cup teams in their senior team and it is the same in Germany. In Jamaica, only two players who played in the Under-17 team that qualified for the World Cup are playing in the league locally, the others cannot be found.
“When I was in Cameroon it was the same with the fields, but 15 or 16 players played in the top leagues in Europe. The players must work harder to get to Europe to play in the better leagues.”
Schafer was at the helm for Cameroon when they won the African Cup of Nations and played in the World Cup in 2002. He suggested that corporate Jamaica can help to develop the football fields in Jamaica.
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