Whitmore sets date for core selection

Ryon Jones, Gleaner Writer

National senior men's football coach, Theodore 'Tappa' Whitmore has given June 5, 2012, as the date when he will settle on the core of Jamaica's squad for the semi-final round of CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

Jamaica have been drawn in Group A with the United States for the North, Central America and Caribbean regional qualifiers that leads to the tournament finals in Brazil.

The US and Jamaica will be joined in the group by the winners of a preliminary group consisting of Belize, Grenada, Guatemala and St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as another group consisting of Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Curaçao and the US Virgin Islands.

Future dates

The Jamaicans are likely to play two international friendlies before qualifiers commence - on February 29 and between June 1 and 5 - which are the next two scheduled FIFA dates.

"Hopefully, we have two FIFA dates coming up and we want to use both of them to look at players and then we will come to the final squad for World Cup qualification," Whitmore disclosed. "After the two FIFA dates, we should see a base that we are going to work going forward; that is why everybody is going to get a chance now," he added.

Whitmore has paid the price for looking at different players since the Gold Cup, which has resulted in the team losing all four international friendlies since the tournament which was played in June of this year. The defeats have come against China (1-0), Ecuador (5-2) and Colombia (2-0).

The fourth was suffered on Tuesday night when the 45th-ranked Boyz went down 2-1 to the 53rd-ranked Hondurans. Whitmore is of the view that the Jamaica team gave a good showing despite the defeat.

"It was an excellent performance overall, based on what we are looking for and what we got from the guys," Whitmore stated. "They gave a good account of themselves despite the fact that we lost the game, but it is how we lost the game and I think we are on the right track going forward," he added.

The 1998 two-goal World Cup hero is cognisant that there are a number of areas in the team that need to be strengthened, but believes that the practice matches that are being played against top-class opposition will go a far way in helping the coaching staff to identify the weaknesses.

Whitmore had his first look at possible reinforcements in the Honduras game when three English-based players - Marvin Conrad Elliot, Marcus Bean and Nathan Smith - made their debuts.

"They have played their first game for the national team, but it is still early days and we want to see them in more than one game," Whitmore expressed. "We will then do a proper assessment, because everyone who wants to play for a team will try to make an impression in their first game."