Administrators still getting it wrong - Schaefer

Former national senior men's football team head coach Winfried Schaefer has said local administrators are still getting their approach to the national football programme wrong, despite their change in approach after his departure.

While leading the team between 2013 and 2016, critics blamed Schaefer for not giving local based footballers a chance in his squads. With his role coming to an end, the Jamaica Football Federation then decided to go with mainly local based players, meaning players born in Jamaica, even if they play their club football elsewhere. However, critics still say results have not really improved, with the team losing the CFU Caribbean Cup final to Curacao on Sunday.

Schaefer said that there is nothing wrong with the local based players selected, but the systems in place to develop them. He said that this is where administrators are getting it wrong, because they fail to see the bigger picture. He said that they are still too focused on the fact that the Reggae Boyz qualified for World Cup 98 with mainly Jamaican based players, but have not considered that infrastructure has not improved since then.

"Lewis Hamilton cannot win the next race with a car from 1998, everyone has a new car," Schaefer told Star Sports. "We were in the Gold Cup final because we had a mix of good players from MLS, Jamaica and English players. You have to work with the local players, and you need better fields. The problem is not losing, but why you're losing."

However, Schaefer said that he holds no ill-will towards Jamaica, it's administrators or the public, for how his stint ended.

"It was a nice time, believe me. It was a beautiful time, beautiful people. I don't forget the time in Jamaica. The people were very nice and very kind," he said.