JAMAICA Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace Burrell raced to the dressing room within minutes of the Reggae Boyz’s fantastic result against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca on Wednesday night, to join in the celebration of the historic achievement.

In fact, it was during this time that he received a telephone call from Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who showered the players with praise on behalf of the country.

But not even Simpson Miller was as ecstatic as Burrell, who had placed his head on the chopping block when he intervened in the technical area of the football programme and engineered a recruiting drive to the United Kingdom to solicit players with Jamaican heritage.

When the dust settled a few hours later at the team’s hotel, it was an utterly relieved Burrell who spoke with the Jamaica Observer, feeling fully vindicated by his gamble last November.

“In life we have to be honest with ourselves,” he said.

“I have had the opportunity to watch many football games around the world, some of the biggest teams in some of the biggest tournaments, and whenever you look at football games you really learn a lot, and I realised that the players we have at home are very good; they have the raw talent.

However, unless we send these players to ply their trade in overseas teams in professional leagues, then I’m afraid they will not be able to take us to the next level.” “They are good players, but the intensity which obtains in international football is not in Jamaica; that is not the level which is played in Jamaica.

This was really an honest assessment,” the JFF boss reiterated.

“I also know that we are a poor country and we are pretty much spending what we don’t have to sustain our football programme and in order to excel, you have got to be able to qualify for world competitions, World Cups or Gold Cups, the big competitions,” he said.

Reports say that at the South Africa World Cup Finals in 2010, teams eliminated at the preliminary stage walked away with a minimum of US$9 million, with a significant increase the farther teams advanced in the competition.

So after advancing to the final phase of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Series on the last day courtesy of a 4-1 thumping of Caribbean neighbours Antigua and Barbuda, the JFF boss said that he engaged the coaching staff and asked head coach Theodore Whitmore and his assistant Alfredo Montesso to take a trip across to the United Kingdom to solicit eligible players with quality, as well as those who left Jamaica’s local league and have gone to the UK to ply their trade.

“I decided that if we were to have a chance of qualifying we would have to get this level of talent in because when you are going to be playing the Mexicos, United States, Honduras, Costa Ricas and Panamas, unless you have quality players, who are technically equipped, you are going to finish down the line and this is certainly testament to what I have just said.

“We must have the urge and the determination; we can’t only talk about qualifying, but we must do what is necessary to qualify,” added Captain Burrell.

During their intense two-week mission to the UK last November, the trio signed off on eight players – the Reading FC pair of Joel ‘Jobi’ McAnuff (31, midfielder) and Garath McCleary (25, forward); Watford’s Lloyd Doyley (29, defender); Huddersfield Jermaine Beckford (28, forward) and James Vaughn (24, forward); Karsruher’s (Germany) Daniel Gordon (27, midfielder); Burnley’s Marvin Bartley (26, midfielder), and Derby County’s Theo Robinson (23, forward).

Four were included in the original squad to face Mexico, but Beckford was forced out early with an injury.

The JFF boss, who left Mexico for Zurich for FIFA matters, said that there could be one or two other players to join the fray, but not too many more than that.

“Dyer (Nathan) from Swansea did say that he would like to be a part of the Reggae Boyz squad, but not until after the summer… but let me say one thing here, those who are being recruited to pay for the Reggae Boyz, they must have the urge, they must want to play for the Reggae Boyz.

We will not be forcing anyone because every single professional player would like to, at some stage, participate in a World Cup Finals, and so those players in England now have a chance to help Jamaica qualify and then parade their skills in Brazil in 2014, and so I’m hopeful that the one or two, and there will not be a lot more, who have expressed an interest and I think are good enough to be a part of the team (will show that commitment).

“It is my view that if in Jamaica you find a player who is better than these players we are planning to bring in and has the discipline etc, then they should be considered.

“It is my view as the president of the federation that the best 11 players must at all times represent our country, and that is the only way we are going to do it.

We have an abundance of talent and I think it is just a matter of being patient, getting the right payers, and having them perform as one unit.

“The future is so bright that we are the only ones who can defeat ourselves,” noted Burrell.

He believes Wednesday night’s performance came at the right time and was a shot in the arm for his federation.

“I think the result is a very significant one.

Indeed, I think this is exactly what our programme needed because having performed so dismally at the Caribbean Cup in Antigua recently, that had a devastating effect on our programme.

“The sponsors started to wane and other people were really concerned as to whether or not it made much sense for them to come on board.

But I tell you, the performance today (Wednesday) is historic.

Historic in the sense that we have never played so well as a unit before, whether at home or abroad.

This was a high pressure game, a game which needed all the players to be doing the correct things, players who needed to be at their best, physically.

There was no room for any errors and our players were able to pull through in a way that the Mexicans started to cheer for the Reggae Boyz.

“I have been here numerous times, watching Mexico playing many different teams and never before have I heard the Mexicans cheer on another team and this just goes to show how very well we were performing.

“Make no bones about it, the Mexicans had some quality players who played very well.

The difference is our players were able to maintain their composure, and played like true professionals.

That’s the only way we were able to leave the Azteca with a 0-0 draw, because it was not easy.

It is not as if the Mexicans didn’t play, but technically, I believe that the group of players that were on the field today (Wednesday) were the best ever.

“The players who have come in have made a huge difference.

Indeed, from day one they brought a professional approach to the team and I believe that our local-based players in the team would have emulated the behaviour of the new recruits from England.

In the end, I believe it has paid huge dividends to come into Mexico and perform like we did.

That is something considered to be exceptional.”