My Friend P has asked that you all be reminded this week, just in case you were not sure that Jamaica is a big world sporting power.

That's right, all 2.7 million of us on the Rock are equivalent in sports to the swimming dominance of the Australians (23.2 million), the basketball supremacy of the Americans (300 million) and the gymnastic prowess of the Chinese (1.3 billion).

Yes, when it comes to sports, we are large. And I am not saying this because we have the fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, and the second fastest man in the world Asafa Powell. Nope. It is about our sports administration. We send a team of footballers off to play two World Cup Qualifying games, and they lose both, and what do we do smack bam in the middle of the tournament?

Fire the coach! Of course, we can do that because we are a big, professional sporting world power and we can fire the coach, just hours after the loss too, in the wee hours of the morning, we can give coach René Simoes marching orders. And we have got the army man to do it too.

Go home

We told coach Simoes, just like in Monopoly, don't pass go, don't collect $200, go directly to Brazil.

That is why I love Captain Horace Burrell. And, if it is only for the theatre of it all, it is great to have him back at the helm of Jamaican football, where, even in times of poor performance, the army man makes us understand that his outfit is not in automatic pilot mode. Nope, it is under control of the captain, who can be decisive and he can fire the coach!

It is sad to hear though, the mumblings about failings of team selection by Simoes, after the fact by some quarters in football. If we had not lost 2-0 to Honduras, it would all be good and no one would have had a thing to say.

Olympic 'feet'

That said, the real challenge now, is who do we get to be the national football coach? Now, here is where the Usain experience comes in. The answer is simple we get Glen Mills, Usain's coach and use Stephen Francis, Asafa's coach as the second in command and they will only train four guys - the four forwards - Usain, Asafa and two other men who run sub-10.

Whitmore and his outfit can continue to train everyone else, and give one instruction - Kick the ball high and hard toward the opponent's goal. Fret not about an offside trap, it will never work because any member of the Mills and Francis Unit Four will get Jamaican feet to the ball. Simple. Good Lord, it is such a sure plan they need to name me as the technical director for Jamaican football!

Reggae Boyz, we are sorry for your current plight. It is one thing to need to win all your remaining home games, one of which includes Mexico, it is a sad state though, when you also have to wish on a hope and a prayer for the poor performance of some other team. When you are feeding yourself hot soup, it really is hard to get burnt, but put that spoon in someone else's hand and you might have some problems.

NB: For all the questions on the vibrating ring from last week, unfortunately we never got the thing to work. Yeah, we are novices. Hey, readers I think the gas station employee might have emailed me. What is she really up to? Hmmm.

Email comments to:

myfriendp@hotmail.com