By Nodley Wright, Staff ReporterJAMAICA'S FRIENDLY international against the United States next Wednesday will signal the start of the campaign to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Captain Horace Burrell made the announcement yesterday at a luncheon meeting of the Lions Club of Kingston where he was the guest speaker. At the meeting held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Burrell gave an outline of the football programme.
As a part of the campaign to Germany 2006 the national team will play at least one international friendly each month. "Only yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon I confirmed a very big friendly against South Africa on April 30 in that country," said Burrell.
"It is a day prescribed as an official FIFA day set aside for matches so all the top players from both countries should be involved," Burrell said.
Before the South Africa game, the Reggae Boyz will be involved in three sets of games, all doubleheaders as Jamaica host one group of the Caribbean Gold Cup qualifiers. These games take place at the National Stadium on March 26, 28 and 30.
As for the United States game, Burrell said a full house was expected. Due to new measures put in place at the National Stadium which do not allow for persons to enter the complex without tickets, tickets will go on sale this Saturday. Tickets will be priced at $500 for the Bleachers, $1,000 for the Grandstand and $2,000 for a limited number of VIP tickets.
Burrell said that the field will "be in the best condition that it has ever been in" and as a result of that a top-class performance can be expected from the local team.
"I do think that based on the state of the field we are going to see a level of football never seen before. If football fans miss this game they will never forgive themselves," said Burrell who also thanked the chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Dr Vin Lawrence, and his team for the work done with the field.
It was not all positive from the former army man. He was far from pleased that sports and in particular football, were yet to receive any funds from the CHASE pool, a lottery-derived resources which is to benefit Culture Health Arts and Education hence the abbreviation (CHASE).
"We are trying our best to move forward. Finances are tight and we understand the situation. However, I have a little difficulty understanding why it is taking so long to implement the CHASE programme," Burrell said.
In saying that, Burrell paused to thank Prime Minister P.J. Patterson for his support of the programme. He had no patience though with those with the responsibility to disburse the funds.
"Those officers who have been tasked (with the job) are moving at snail's pace," he said.
