Jamaica takes its soccer seriously
Updated: 2013-06-09 08:13
By Tym Glaser(China Daily)
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Don't thank me. I consider this just part of my social duty as part of the greater Beijing metropolis.
As China has not gone deep into the World Cup qualifiers since making the 2002 extravaganza - when Asia's then two best nations (Japan and the more huggable of the Koreas) automatically qualified for soccer's premier event - I decided to venture out and to recapture and bottle the feeling of what it is like to play meaningful games as the preliminaries to the world's greatest single sport's event start to reach critical mass.
I could have taken the easiest and shortest route and stayed in Asia or merely meandered over to Europe. I also contemplated exotic locales in Africa, Oceania and South America to talk about the passion grown men running around fields and kicking balls engenders. But, when push came to flop, your intrepid columnist headed off to the Caribbean for the United States versus Jamaica CONCACAF clash at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Most major sporting arenas in the world have their own special identity, aura and traits and Jamaica's top soccer/multi-sports venue is no exception as it is a modern day Rome Coliseum - old and relatively useless.
However, within its rudimentary confines, a game sprung up between two of the six teams from (deep breath) North America, Central America and the Caribbean for what will amount to be three automatic berths and a playoff for a fourth to the Brazil Cup in 2014.
Jamaican crowds, even around a domino table, are generally colorful, talkative and not afraid to lambast friend or foe in the cause of making a loud noise.
Such was the case on this warm Friday night at "The Office" as a sea of gold-clad fans enveloped the ground like husk around corn - only vice versa.
They sang, they jumped, they ate, they smoked (even some legal products occasionally), they cheered, they cussed, they laughed and, ultimately, a few even cried.
The Reggae Boyz, who became the first English-speaking Caribbean team to make the World Cup (France 1998) fell in heartbreaking fashion to the US, 2-1, on a gruesomely late strike that all but ended their hopes of a trip to South America.
Jamaica still has to play out the CONCACAF string, but there will be recriminations, as there always are, when expectations - no matter how lofty - are not met.
But all sports have their rocky shores and the longer you can avoid them, the better the ride.
How China must wish it was still bobbing up and down in the World Cup ocean right now ... like that little Caribbean island.
Tym Glaser is a senior sports copy editor who is hoping his 3-year-old son will earn him fame and fortune for Australia or Jamaica in soccer, cricket or track and field. He can be contacted at tymglaser@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 06/09/2013 page7)