Blunt questions for Tappa

Orville Higgins, Contributor

Jamaica's sub-par performance against Costa Rica a few nights ago is still hurting football fans in the island. The Wednesday after the game, callers to my sports call-in programme on KLAS FM radio spoke about nothing else.

We are now at the bottom of the group and continue to find goalscoring a serious problem. Indeed, we have not scored one single goal from open play in the four games we have played on the road since the campaign has started! After we played Mexico, Brazil was looking like a certainty. Now it's looking iffy.

When we performed so badly in the Caribbean Cup, the Jamaica Football Federation boss asked for a review from his technical committee. I suggest to Captain Burrell that he does the same thing now. I would love to be the person who poses the questions for the technical committee to ponder. These questions would include, but are not necessarily restricted to, the following:

MISSING KING IN HINDSIGHT?

Is the coach now slightly regretting his decision to suspend Marlon King, a choice that may have prompted King's unexpected international retirement? Isn't it now looking a little petty, in hindsight, that we forced out our best goalscorer for something as trivial as breaking curfews and allegedly having visitors in his room? Are the non-curfew-breaking, non-visitor-having, probably-faithful-to-their-wife strikers that we have now of more value to this team than a Marlon King would have been?

What is the real reason for not having Darren Mattocks in the squad? Whatever sins the youngster may have committed, does the punishment fit the crime? Isn't part of the coach's duty to be able to lead the lost sheep back into the fold? Shouldn't you, Tappa, be able to get a talented-but-precocious youngster to jump through hoops for a Jamaican legend like yourself? If Mattocks can't be made to fit into the programme, isn't that a mark against the coaching staff?

WHAT OF HUE'S VALUE?

Now to Jermaine Hue. When Jermaine played against Antigua at home, wasn't he arguably the best player on the field? At the very least, didn't he display that he was far better than anyone else in the current squad at orchestrating the middle and creating chances for others? Granted, it was against lowly Antigua, but wasn't that the game, with Hue calling the shots, that we looked most dangerous, scored the most goals, and generally looked most complete? Why, despite all that, has Hue not seen a minute on the field since?

And as for the right-back position, why haven't we settled that? We have used four people in that position since the start of the campaign - Lovel Palmer, Jermaine Taylor, Omar Daley and Lloyd Doyley. Are any of those better, in that position, than Xavian Virgo, who was such a fixture in the squad just before the qualifiers? Is Virgo's crime the fact that he doesn't take a plane to join the squad?

Now to the two teenagers, Alvas Powell and André Lewis. Why are they being constantly picked in the squad when we all know they won't play? Wouldn't it be more prudent to use those two spaces for people who might actually be called upon? These two are clearly future players for Jamaica, but is a World Cup qualification campaign the right place to blood two wet-behind-the-ears youngsters?

We have a problem with goalscoring. Nobody seems able to score goals unless it's free kicks or penalties, so why are we not thinking of 'Tuffy' Anderson, who is clearly the most potent striker in Jamaica and who is fit and strong and begging for a chance? Is it because he plays locally, or is it because his first name is Jermaine? (As in Hue?!)

Are we all satisfied with all the English-based players? Clearly, some of them, like Mariappa and Nosworthy, deserve their spot and have made a definite difference to the team. But are all of them adding a value that we couldn't have locally? Is Whitmore losing his ability to motivate and inspire this team?

These are mere questions, all of them I know the answer to, but it would be interesting to hear how the technical committee, or Whitmore himself, would respond to them.

Orville Higgins is a sportscaster and radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.