Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic (right), the man tipped to become the Reggae Boyz's technical director, is all ears as Jamaica Football Federation President Crenston Boxhill speaks at a Gleaner Company conference last Friday. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
TO ADMINISTRATORS of underdog football nations, Velibor 'Bora' Milutinovic is a godsend. In the past 20 years, the nomadic Serbian coach has led five countries to the World Cup, and if he decides to become technical director of Jamaica's beleaguered programme, the Reggae Boyz may well be the sixth.
The acclaimed Bora, 62, left Jamaica yesterday after discussions with the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). There were also meetings with private sector leaders and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
JFF president Crenston Boxhill would not comment on the talks held with Milutinovic, but said it was almost a certainty that he would assume the post left vacant after Wendell Downswell's resignation in September.
Milutinovic definitely has the credentials to qualify Jamaica for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was behind the qualification of talented, but unfashionable teams such as Costa Rica (1990), Nigeria (1998) and China (2002) to football's blue ribbon tournament.
Milutinovic was also at the helm of Mexico and the United States when they hosted the 1986 and 1994 tournaments, respectively. Like Costa Rica and Nigeria, those teams got past the first round.
Current doldrums
The Jamaican game, which reached a high in 1997 with qualification for the '98 World Cup in France, is currently in a tailspin. A 2-1 victory over Canada on October 8 at the National Stadium was welcome relief after the Reggae Boyz were embarrassingly eliminated in the qualifying stages of the Digicel Caribbean Cup one week earlier.
In the past 18 months, the team has suffered humiliating losses to Australia, Ghana and England.
There has been a mad rush by the JFF to find a high-profile technical director. Word doing the rounds is that former England coaches Sven-Goran Erikkson and Glenn Hoddle, and former England player John Barnes were in the reckoning.
Another name that came up for the job was Jose Pekerman who guided Argentina to the recent World Cup in Germany.
Football analyst, Clyde Jureidini, believes Milutinovic could be the man to lift the once-proud Reggae Boyz out of the doldrums.
"Of all the choices I heard going around, I think Pekerman and Bora were the best candidates," Jureidini told The Gleaner. "Once funding is provided by the private sector and Government, the Jamaican public will support the team," he added. "If they do get him, it's a shot in the arm for the programme."
Milutinovic, also known as 'The Magician', does not come cheap. His last national assignment as coach of Honduras reportedly cost that country US$75,000 a month; he left the job in 2004 during qualifiers for the World Cup in Germany.
Boxhill did not say how much Milutinovic will be paid if he accepts the offer to coach Jamaica.
No star player
Like some of the world's top coaches such as Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and Chelsea's Jose Mourinho, Bora Milutinovic was not a star during his playing days.
He played for Partizan Belgrade in his native Serbia (then Yugoslavia), as well as Nice and Monaco in France. He also had stints in Switzerland and Mexico, where he has lived for 30 years.
While he has had a distinguished career as a national coach, Milutinovic has not fared as well at the club level. He had a disastrous run with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in U.S. Major League Soccer and his previous job with Al Saad in the Qatar league lasted one season.
Since leaving Al Saad, Milutinovic has been taking things easy. He was just another fan at the recent World Cup where he told SportingNews.com that he had forgotten how enjoyable it is to watch a game from the stands.
However, he added: 'That doesn't mean I won't be looking to be back as a coach the next time around."
