Any trip to South America to participate in the game of football has always been an exciting experience to me and the group of young players from my country, regardless of the opponents.
After ten days in Brazil and witnessing 12 matches out of the Copa America tournament, presently taking place in Chile, I should have been filled with joy and appreciation of high quality play at all levels.
With the eyes of the world on the Copa America, I joined the millions around the world to see various things about the great game.
The first may well have been the performances of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and the host country, Chile, all of whom showed that they are still among the best in the world.
An observation I made after seeing Argentina and Brazil perform twice is that it left me with a distinct feeling that the rigours of their club activity in Europe must have left them jaded and underprepared physically and psychologically for this encounter.
With an obvious difference from the moderate cool weather in Europe in autumn, the human element was clearly showing among the great players, some of whom included Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguera, Angel Di Maria, Javier Marscherano and Pablo Zabaleta–all from Argentina; Neymar, Fernandinho and William of Brazil; Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez of Colombia and Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal of Chile.
Some looked very much underprepared for the matches, either through a mental and physical deficiency or insufficient time to readjust to their own national teams, in addition to the lousy cold weather.
One was left to presume that maybe the physical toughness of the less recognised teams, whose initial way to compete against the likes of Messi, Aguero and Neymar were to get physical and put a scare in them.
If the presumption was correct, then the lethargy of these superstars was a form of protection from injury with thoughts of their employers whose biggest grouse is international country competitions which are planned between the club seasons across the world.
Not only were the fans disappointed with the shortage of quality which everyone expected from these players, but the on-field reaction displayed by players of that calibre in terms of substandard performances and loss of temper in the heat of the matches.
Neymar was easily the most affected by these problems, some of which players of his ability should have catered for.
The young Brazilian failed his fans by his lack-lustre approach to the game, possibly because of the extremely tough tackles which he was facing, but moreso, his reactionary methods to correct the situations by challenging the referees following tackles, which were both legitimate and illegal.
It resulted in Neymar spoiling his own game and that eventually dismissed through a red card. He failed and by extension, so did his country.
Neymar may now be learning that focus must never be removed from his contribution on the field.
The referee must be trusted to do his job and arguments with him will only affect the player's personal contribution to his team and to his fans.
Much more could be said about this tournament, especially about the performances of Jamaica which should not be mixed with the same issues which faced the world's top players.
I did not have the space to even update the young people in our community of a group of young promising footballers whose challenge of touring Brazil to face four Brazilian Serie A clubs teams in Botafoga, Tigris FC, Bonsucesso FC, and Brazilian club champion, Flamengo. But, soon enough, I will share their experiences with you.
I'm also preparing what I consider to be a very disturbing assessment of our national team, especially after witnessing the match against Jordan recently.