Interim coach Theodore Whitmore (left) and head coach John Barnes. - file

ON the eve of Jamaica's most important football match since drawing 0-0 with Mexico to qualify for the 1998 World Cup 11 years ago, the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) was last night sent scrambling to dismiss media allegations of interim coach Theodore Whitmore being sidelined by 'coach-in-waiting' John Barnes.

Jamaica face Canada at the National Stadium tonight, starting at 8, needing to beat Canada by seven clear goals should second-place homesters Honduras get the better of group leaders Mexico in their top-of-the-table semi-final round World Cup qualifying clash.

However, instead of the usual pre-match talk of team selection, tactics and expectations for Jamaica, Whitmore, who took the Reggae Boyz from the brink of elimination, with back-to-back home victories against Honduras and Mexico, to tonight's outside shot at a place in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, had to be playing down reports of him being peeved that Barnes was in charge of Monday night's training session at the National Stadium.

Assumed duties

Jamaican-born Barnes, a former Liverpool and England international star winger, assumed duties as head coach on November 1 but, according to the JFF, will not officially take over the team from Whitmore until after tonight's match, apparently not wanting to interrupt the former Jamaica midfielder's winning streak.

A statement from the JFF, rushing to do damage control yesterday evening, stated that Whitmore and Barnes were on the "same page", dismissing media reports of Barnes changing Whitmore's 4-4-2 formation to 3-4-3.

Interestingly, STAR Sports sources had indicated from as early as Saturday afternoon that Whitmore would have been employing a 3-4-3 formation, Ricardo Fuller, Luton Shelton and Marlon King as strikers, deviating from two forwards, due to the number of goals needed to ensure qualification.

"From the Cayman Islands, Theodore indicated what the team would be against Canada. He indicated what the formation would be, which is completely different from the formation against the Cayman Islands because it was his remit to select the team and formation for the Canada which I accepted and supported," the JFF statement quoted Barnes as saying.

"At our first training session last night, which was going to be a very gentle session, he asked me to make some observations on 'his team and his formation'. In the more crucial training session, which is the night before the match, Theodore will make his own observations and his own tactics on his team and his formation," the statement further quoted Barnes as saying.

Whitmore, the release said, was "very surprised by the reaction to training last night".

"The session was discussed before and planned with John. We have no issue. We are, both on the same page and I am extremely comfortable with the preparations for the game, so far. As announced by the federation I have full responsibility for this game and I am happy with the support of John," he added.

Excellent working relationship

Barnes, the release went on to state, said he was "disappointed" at the developments.

"I feel a little bit disappointed that we have been forced to clarify this situation because Theodore and I have an excellent working relationship and, unfortunately, it seems to be that some elements are seemingly trying to pit us against each other when we are all pulling in the same direction with one goal in mind."

Whoever is in charge tonight, Jamaica have one goal, beat the Canadians and do so handsomely to secure a spot in the final round.

However, should 10-point Mexico beat Honduras on nine, the Boyz need not worry about goal difference with a win against last-place Canada, as they would move to 10 points, leapfrogging the Central Americans to join the Mexicans in the final round.

Canada arrived in the island on Sunday with a squad of youthful and experienced players, four members being 21 or younger.

However, coach Dale Mitchell was quick to point out that despite their hopeless position, "we owe it to the other teams in the group to give a good account of ourselves".

Best performances

He also added that against Mexico they were in a similar position but "we turned in one of our best performances of the campaign", drawing 2-2 in Edmonton, handing a lifeline to Jamaica.

Whitmore last night seemed intent on employing three strikers.

"We've to look at the situation. We don't want to wait on the Mexico-Honduras game, We've to play our game and put away the chances.

"We have three in-form strikers - Marlon King, Luton Shelton and Ricardo Fuller - and I don't see why I can't throw them all in the game. I know that each of them have a goal and we're looking at three goals there."

"Everybody wants to do well tomorrow," he added. "Right now, we're hungry for success. We're going out there knowing the job at hand, we're going out there to deliver.

"We want to take it one goal at a time. The most important thing is all the players who we've invited know the significance of this game ... and they're all ready to deliver.

"Just like the Mexico, just like the Honduras game, they all know what we have to do."

He also gave assurances that veteran defender Ian Goodison, who walked through training on Monday, was all right.

"Goodison is okay. He has a slight pain in the hamstring; because of precautionary measures, we left him out of the training last night," he said.