KANSAS CITY, Kansas — Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson may not be the most polished speaker of the Queen’s English, but his message is as poignant as it can be inspiring.

His story is one that has captivated the imagination of ordinary Jamaicans for it speaks to them. In other words, his story of struggle and triumph is uplifting to them.

Anderson, a charismatic Jamaican footballer, who championed his own cause after being left out of the national senior set-up even as he topped the local leagues with his goal-scoring exploits, became a folk hero of sorts as he waged his campaign to be duly recognised.

After being left out in the wilderness during the Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore tenure as head coach of the senior Reggae Boyz for some nine months, ‘Tuffy’ finally got his chance to prove himself last month.

With the arrival of new coach, German Winfried Schafer, the irrepressible striker got his chance at redemption, and he grabbed it with both hands by scoring in his first match of the current World Cup campaign against Costa Rica last month at the National Stadium in a 1-1 draw.

Anderson, the hero of the Jamaican people, had delivered as he promised, but that goal and any other he may be able to conjure in two remaining matches against the USA (Friday) and Honduras (Tuesday) in Kingston may prove too little, too late.

That is so because Jamaica, who sit at the bottom of the CONCACAF hexagonal Brazil 2014 World Cup play-offs with four points from eight matches, are dangerously close to being eliminated.

But Anderson, a native of Montego Bay, is already looking beyond the ongoing qualifiers and is hoping that his new-found popularity and role model status can effect changes within and outside the sport.

“I tell all the young players that when they get their chance, they must show what they can do… a lot of players from all around look up to me, so I have to try and do the right things all the time because a lot of them follow me or try to be like me, so I have to set the standard high at all times. I do want to give back to the yutes dem the skills I have and the way to score goals,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Anderson, 34, urged aspiring footballers to stay focused and follow their dreams of the big times, but reminded that discipline and hard work are the key to success.

“I see that the door is open right now for many players as this coach is not one who is partial, because once you are good, you are good, and once him know you can go out there and get the job done, he will call you.

“It’s the time for a lot of the yutes dem fi just keep focus and stay out of trouble and know dat it’s football right now and mek di coach know wat dem want to do for di country,” added Anderson, speaking in his infectious rural accent, and the Jamaican tongue known as patois.

Though he is considered to be “going up in age”, the country’s top home-based forward said he will do whatever he has to do to prolong his career as a player.

“I always train hard on my own to keep my body up to standard, eat good, sleep good… I will always be here ready to do good tings fi mi country, and as long as I am fit, I am ready to go out dere and do the job… as I said, if a ting come mi haffi just deal wid it and will always be ready fi fight fi mi country,” Anderson noted.

As he looks to figure in Jamaica’s match against Brazil-bound USA at Sporting Park in Kansas City on Friday evening, Anderson believes that unity of purpose will win the day for the team.

“First we have to go out there as one and work as one… we have to just fight and go and get the goals as you know it’s goals that win matches… only one aim we can have now and is to go out there and fight hard and see if we can get the victory,” he said.

Jamaica have backed themselves into a corner in the World Cup qualifying campaign, forced to beat the USA and then Honduras, and hope that happenings in the other games find favour with them.

But as he has proven with a late goal as a second-half sub in Jamaica’s last match against Costa Rica, Anderson, never short on confidence, thinks he could repeat.

“We know our back is against the wall right now, so we have to just go out there and just do what we have to. In my situation, I know what I can do once I get a chance to go out there… I scored my first goal in World Cup qualifiers and now I want to just go out there and score many more goals. If I get my chance to play on Friday, I want to do my best and hope that victory will come our way,” he stated.

‘Tuffy’ said the approach Friday against a strong USA team has to be “a real attacking game”.

“We have to come with our A game as we have to push forward and attack in numbers; we can’t play defensively, we have to be pushing forward, we have to high press them.

“The 11 players who go out there have to just play hard and we must know that we have another three to come on and put out their heart. One thing with me, in life I believe you have to work hard, and we must remember we a represent wi country, so we have to just work hard. I want to know that everybody who made this trip from coaching staff, managers and players have to know that we must be one,” Anderson ended.