GORDON WILLIAMS, Freelance Writer

Including shock selections, stern discipline, immediate impact from young players and odd mind games all aimed to get the best from the team, if Bora Milutinovic takes over as the technical director of the national programme.

But the positive end result desired by the nation, namely, qualification for World Cup 2010, will still require much patience with the globetrotting coach, according to one of his best known ex-players.

"I suspect (Milutinovic) will surprise some people," warned Alexi Lalas, current general manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy of United States Major League Soccer and still possibly the game's most recognisable face in America.

Lalas, who earned an unlikely senior call-up with the U.S. national team from Milutinovic in 1993 as a 22-year-old and played close to 100 internationals, including the 1994 World Cup finals, insisted that the coach will not tolerate indiscipline or lack of commitment, either by players or administrators.

"He doesn't suffer fools," said Lalas. "He demands that you are trying to improve."

RESPECT

That means that Milutinovic will be looking for players who show intelligence on and off the field and demand that they respect their own talent and the game. Those who do not toe the line will find themselves booted into the cold, and that list of casualties is almost sure to include popular players.

"He doesn't care about what anybody says about who the best players are," Lalas explained on Monday. "He will believe in players he believes in, not always the players others think should be in the team."

Lalas said Milutinovic, who has coached four other teams in the World Cup finals and speaks five languages, "has been around and seen it all", therefore he should easily adapt to Jamaicans and their culture and will not try to alter the quick, skilful style of play associated with the Reggae Boyz.

"You have to put your trust in Bora," Lalas explained. "Very quickly the people will see he has incredible flexibility. The last thing he would want is to change Jamaica's football."

Unusual ways

Milutinovic also has unusual ways of assessing commitment. When Lalas first joined the U.S. team he wore his red hair and beard long. While in camp, he said the coach asked an assistant to tell him to cut off his hair. Lalas, known for his free spirited personality, fumed, but complied.

MIND GAME

It was only later, when his hair had grown back with no objection from the coach, that Lalas said he realised Milutinovic was playing a mind game. And at the end of the U.S.'s successful run in the 1994 World Cup they hosted, during which the defender played every minute of every game, Lalas said Milutinovic told him he was proud of him.

"It was a test," reflected Lalas on the hair-cutting order. "He wanted to know how bad I wanted to make the team."

Today Lalas, who became the first American to play in Italy's top flight league Serie A, calls Milutinovic a friend and "the most important coach" of his professional career.

If Milutinovic is officially contracted by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), he will have roughly the same time frame - about two years - to prepare Jamaica for competition as he did with the U.S. prior to the '94 World Cup.

The similarity did not escape Lalas, who said Jamaica's football should be further along than it is today. He predicted Milutinovic, who he called "a great hire", will use the time to "identify a pool of younger players, local players, players you've never heard of" to embark on the campaign. Every player will be treated equally ... almost.

"He values the stars," Lalas said, "but I think he values the unknowns as much, if not more."

As for Jamaica's recent emphasis on selecting foreign-born players, Lalas does not expect Milutinovic to spare any length in getting what he wants.

"He will go and find the best players out there," said the American.

In the end, Lalas urged Jamaicans to be patient. The only weakness of the roving coach, he added, may be that Milutinovic needs time to create the "Bora Effect".

"Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward," Lalas said, before adding later: "Bora is a complicated person in a good way. There is a method to the madness."

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.