THE Reggae Boyz’ first sojourn to Mexico City was some 48 years ago in 1965, where the theam participated in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the 1966 England edition.

They were thrashed 8-0 and ever since only dreamt of victory.

The 0-0 stalemate is a massive achievement.

In Jamaica’s 50th year of political Independence, coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore, with Alfredo ‘Freddo’ Montesso, doctor Carlton ‘PeeWee’ Fraser, the rest of the technical staff and, of course, the players, have made an addition to the football history books by earning a point in the Azteca. This, added to the defeat of the USA MNT for the first time ever at our National Stadium last September, must enrich the stocks of a young coach whose credibility is on the rise with a special liking for the big occasions. He has started to erase the disappointment of the lacklustre performance in the recent Caribbean Cup in Antigua.

One has to wonder, if our next game at home against our newest nemesis, Panama, will not be another scalp on the hit list of Whitmore and his band of ‘haul’n’pull up’ Reggae Boyz, on March 22.

But halt, we all have to be very careful to not run ahead of ourselves in celebrating, before designing the appropriate strategy.

History will record that many things were done in a different way, this time around and they may have contributed to the positive result. Let us examine all to retain those progressive stepping stones.

* The modern-day international football model has largely created a stir, nervousness and panic amongst the highly doubting, but ever supportive nation.

* Unlike in the Rene Simoes era, when the squad was heavily local based and always available, overseas professional clubs only release their players under FIFA Rules when there are selected FIFA Dates, usually no more than seven times annually — hence 10 of the 13 participating players were unavailable until two to three days before the game.

* No international friendlies, no camp, no chemistry mean our technical team had to prepare a more effective system of play that can be easily communicated, understood, and executed under severely adverse conditions.

* For this the most extended travel route from Europe to USA then onto Mexico, the JFF breaks the fragile bank to facilitate relative but critical Business Class travel comfort to guarantee rest, relaxation and recovery before and after the game. The local contingent left early on Sunday.

* Peace of mind is vital, as care is obviously displayed and happily accepted then shared by all.

* Whitmore tells us the altitude phenomenon was “all in the mind”.

* Scouting of the last five Mexico games are revealed in post-game comments, shows preparation.

* History, high altitude, the quality of Mexican opponents, and venue characteristics all militated against us, hence our assembly of professionals, experience of a very senior squad of an average age of 29. Of the 14 players, nine play in England, three in USA/MLS and two in Scandinavia.

* Medical programme designed and managed by Dr Fraser should be shared, discussed and further researched, as we showed little or no evidence publicly of adverse effects.

* Did playing the game on Wednesday at 8:30 pm, as against the usual mid afternoon on weekends, supposedly at a cooler climate, assist us and in particular our largely foreign-based professionals?

* A positive team spirit from the coaches, players, old and new, with a sense of history beckoning.

* Team selection was prudent overall with players who were best suited for this high-performance encounter based on who are currently active, match-fit, familiar pairs in the two key areas of defence and midfield who play together daily in England, backed up by the eldest at 35 years, most experienced, most capped and tallest player in 6’5″ goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts tasked again with team leadership after his questionable absence. He had to lead from the front and back. He did so magnificently.

* Players ranging from heights of 5’10” to 6’5″ means the average of about 6’1″ had a distinct aerial advantage over the shorter Mexicans, who dominated in the air, particularly winning crosses consistently, even leading to many head clashes as our players were more aggressive in those battles defensively, as well as our forwards in attack which led to steals, forced turnovers, mistakes, and goal-scoring chances.

* Mexico’s 18 shots at goal translated to Ricketts restarting the game at least 18 times, in addition to taking a few more dead-ball kicks inside his half of the field pushing the entire team forward and Mexico back 60 metres, but most effectively delaying and also regularly stopping the game again with long kicks going outside the field in the opponents defensive areas, resulting in multiple throw-ins over short distances against another defensively tactically arranged team unit. Coupled with our 12 infringements, totalling 30 stops or once every three minutes, broke the rhythm and fluency of the Mexicans, much to the chagrin of coach Jose Manuel De la Torre.

* Fortunately and unfortunately we saw how our two Reading FC attackers combined well to create the best two early chances, hitting the post and then from the rebound not beating the desperate custodian. Is it the lack of chemistry, bad luck or just inept goal-scoring capability, why the other two chances resulting from steals and why both players seemed unprepared to convert? However, both players, Ryan Johnson and Theo Robinson, have scored regularly, with 10 and 12 goals, respectively, for their clubs last season.

* Jamaica executed the game plan well, but it must be said that Mexico also performed below par, with regular unforced errors, poor ball control, no sustained high-pressure in offence, possession more so in defence, not able to muster a flow and their usual finesse.

* Mexican coach de la Torre looked rattled, under pressure for not dominating, scoring and misplacing players like Giovani dos Santos on the flank instead of the interior before being substituted at the break, poor defensive choices and not providing quality service to Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez or Oribe Peralta to score. He must be thankful for goalkeeper, Jose de Jesus Corona for making brilliant saves in adverse situations.

* It should not be overlooked that the seamless transition across the half-time break went so smoothly it was not recognised that we did not miss a beat and continued the same team concept into the second half, as if, a 15-minute rest was not taken.

* Team discipline, tactical awareness and concentrated commitment to the task at hand throughout the entire 90 minutes helped us to break the offensive dominance of Mexico, forcing mistakes and football turnovers a few of which led to clear cut goal-scoring opportunities on three occasions, that if converted, could have secured a greater reward of victory and three points.

* Most importantly, to keep a clean sheet in the Azteca is an extremely rare and extraordinary feat.

* We must celebrate the achievement for the moment, but quickly recommit to improve all around, as the hexagonal only gets more competitive for the next nine set of games, as the three top teams USA, Mexico and Costa Rico are deeply wounded and are sure to respond with capability.

* While Honduras, Panama and Jamaica will be scraping for every available point, making it a wide open league in the early stages, and, depending on all results, could be going down to the wire.

The Reggae Boyz have now put their cards on the table for all the nation to rejoice in the moment. The JFF must immediately strive to transform those “promises into profits”, by this time doing it differently than in 1998 when everything was short term and centred only on the World Cup campaign.

It is now full time for our corporate spirit of entrepreneurship, including the cheering diaspora, to come to the fore with genuine short, medium and long-term investments, not just for the March 22 Panama game, or to the November qualifiers, or what was previously considered long term to FIFA World Cup in Brasil 2014 for the Reggae Boyz senior team campaign. No, this time include genuine development plans and professionalise not politicise, the local Premier League over the next two years, stimulated now by creative marketing and promotions to galvanise the people in masses to come to the party in support of the team at the Office on March 22 and then further beyond the new horizons.

Let us truly support the Reggae Boyz and Jamaica’s football development, if not now, when?