So by request this (v long) thread is about the general negative view of the #ReggaeBoyz that I think exists. Im going to give 3 reasons why these views are out of whack with reality and how we fail to properly contextualise our football. John Public (JP) only measures the team’s

success by one metric- getting to a WC. Which is WILD lol. For some reason JP measure our standard like we are France, Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, Argentina etc. Nuts lol. Imo there is a perverse pleasure taken by JP to loud up the bad results and whisper the good ones.

Just this week a colleague of mine came to me about “Why them never win the game (last Saturday)?” with no mention of the win on Tuesday. So I responded that they won that second game and the reaction was subdued- not the same energy for the W as for the L. Is a regular thing to

see terms like ‘wutliss’ on the socials and similar is said in bars and call in radio shows. They were flying last Saturday (extenuating circumstances be damned) and even the celebration of 23rd Anniversary of qualification for ‘98 had the same type of energy from some. Likes and

RTs in abundance to negative vibes. So where exactly does this idea that we’re a ‘great’ footballing country stem from? Frankly its in our heads. We are a boasy people (the boasiest) and we only really support winners (but we’ll be the first to tear them down too, quick and fast)

Thats our society. But reality is a different thing- we are not good enough to go to every WC. So here’s the facts in 3 parts.
1. ‘98 was a MIRACLE! Even coach Simoes described it as building a house starting with the roof. The requisite foundational structures were not in place

for that success to be organic. In 23 years, that hasn’t been corrected as it should. While most countries have advanced their football significantly we have not. The gap has widened- Japan and us were both debutants in ‘98. WE BEAT THEM! But look at them and look at us now.

Not really comparable. So while that was the greatest sporting achievement in a team sport in this country it was also buck ups. And if in the 5 cycles after, not much has improved on the ground, where exactly did JP think the football was going to go? Up? How? Theres a reason we

still have to rely on English born players to fill out key positions in the squad today. And the section of JP that fights them out is even more unrealistic than the rest.
2. In CONCACAF we compete against the deep football cultures of Mexico, Costa Rica & Honduras as well as the

money and huge player pool of the US. We (a) don’t really invest in football (and more crucially don’t invest strategically) AND (b) as a whole DEFINITELY not as passionate about the sport as the Central Americans. JP doesn’t love football like they claim to.

I been in Panama stadium during a WCQ. They are RABID and thats a baseball country. At ‘The Office’ JP flex like they came to watch a play at Little Theatre. But for some reason JP think we should beat out 2 of those 4 regularly for a WC spot when all the things we need to have

in order are not. Last cycle we were in a group with Panama and CR who took 2/3 CONCACAF spots at Russia but nobody looked back at that and acknowledged how damn hard that group was. We don’t have close to the same room for error as them. So brace for the big one...

3. We are NOT EVEN the big dogs in the Caribbean. If this is your face right now just take a couple breaths before you read on. Caribbean Cups- T&T has won 8 titles (5 2nds) to Jamaica’s 6 (3 2nds). Between ‘94 and ‘99 they won 5/6 of these. We’ve never dominated it like that.

More? In Caribbean Club Championships T&T clubs have 11 wins (11 2nds). JA has 4 wins (5 2nds). So our clubs clearly haven’t been as good as theirs either- not even close. More? Youth NTs- we have qualified for the U17 WC twice. Same amount of times as T&T, Haiti and Cuba.

U20 WC- we have one appearance, T&T has 2. Pretty clear to me that we don’t dominate the CFU. But for some reason JP expect the Boyz to be a real force in CONCACAF? Ha. Come on guys. Reality is we are merely good at football and have done very little to elevate. Maybe one day.

There is excitement about the current squad being put together for this run. On paper right now imo this is a top 3 group in CONCACAF w/ more to come. But the game isn’t played on paper. Our problems are myriad and need attention. With Curacao’s continued recruitment & Canada’s

quality young players, competition is going to be rough this go round (assuming they make the 8). Don’t let ranking fool you either- Poland showed a couple years ago that that system can be gamed easily. It has its purpose but its by no means a true indicator of standing.

I say all this to say the negative energy people seem to revel in spewing about the Boyz helps nobody. There’s nothing in our past that, if put into context, warrants the high expectations placed on the Reggae Boyz. A WHOLE LOT is needed to get to that place.