|
Brazil
Training Camp Begins
(Jamaica
Observer)
PETER
Cargill, assistant coach of Jamaica's national senior football
team and Trelawny Football Association president, Linnel McLean,
left the island yesterday for Brazil where the Reggae Boyz are
scheduled to undertake a two-week training camp.
Burton
It
is understood that Theodore Whitmore, Walter Boyd and Leon Gordon
were also expected to depart the island, while Ian Goodison was
granted permission to travel next Monday. His delay is due to
family commitments.
However
it is uncertain if any of the three players scheduled for departure
yesterday, actually travelled.
While
in Brazil, the Reggae Boyz, who have gone five matches without
a win, are expected to play five international "B"
games to help prepare them for Jamaica's World Cup Qualifying
campaign which begins in less than two months.
Moore
Dean
Sewell will join the team early next week, as will Frank Sinclair.
Other
players invited are Marcus Gayle, Darren Moore, Shavar Thomas,
Tyrone Marshall and Sheldon Barnes of the University of Virginia.
They will join the rest of the squad minus Oniel Smith, Paul
Hall and Andrew Williams, who will return home after participating
in the King Hassan 11 football tournament in Morocco.
Lazaroni
It
is also understood that Deon Burton and Wolde Harris are being
sought to strengthen the attacking force in the squad.
Japan thrash
Reggae Boyz
(06/07)
CASABLANCA, Morocco, (Reuters)
-
Two second half goals by striker
Shoji Jo helped Japan avenge a World Cup defeat and beat Jamaica
4-0 in the King Hassan II tournament yesterday.
The Japanese, who ended the 1998
World Cup with three consecutive defeats including a 2-1 loss
to Jamaica, had to wait 45 minutes before breaking the deadlock.
Jo put his side ahead with a
perfect volley from inside the penalty box in the 47th and then
slotted home his second after a free-kick by Akinori Nishizawa
on the hour.
Midfielder Atsuhiro Miura had
already put the outcome of the match beyond doubt with a nice
18-metre shot deflected in by a Jamaican defender in the 66th
minute.
Veteran Kazuyoshi
Miura, who was controversially dropped just before the 1998 World
Cup finals, came on 15 minutes from time and scored the fourth
goal five minutes later.
Boyz go down
again
(06/05) CASABLANCA, (Reuters):
MOROCCO beat Jamaica 1-0 yesterday
to set up a rendezvous with World champions France in tomorrow's
final of the King Hassan-II tournament in Casablanca.
It was Jamaica's third loss under
new technical director Sebastiao Lazaroni who took charge of
the team in April. The Brazilian is still chasing his first win
with the 1998 World Cup finalists.
In addition to yesterday's defeat
Jamaica have lost two friendlies (0-1 to Panama and 0-3 to Colombia).
They drew 0-0 with Romania in another friendly game.
After an even first half, Morocco
pushed hard in the second and had their efforts rewarded with
a goal set up by Deportivo Coruna's Salaheddine Bassir in the
61st minute.
Jamaica's goalkeeper Donovan
Ricketts parried his shot but substitute Hicham Zeraouli slotted
the ball home for the winner.
The home side, playing before
70,000 spectators, came close to scoring a second goal when a
header by midfielder Mourad Hdioud hit the bar with five minutes
to play.
|
|
Brazil
tour for new Boy
(Jamaica
Gleaner) ANOTHER
overseas-based player has been invited to train with the national
football team. The latest invitee, however, is not an England-based
player but a university student in America.
Twenty-year-old
forward Sheldon Barnes confirmed yesterday that he will be headed
to Brazil for a two-week training camp with the national team
in preparation for their 2002 World Cup qualifiers. The Reggae
Boyz are now in Morocco and will play Japan to decide third spot
in the King Hassan-II four-team tournament.
"I
feel honoured and happy to be given the chance or to be permitted
to try out for the Reggae Boyz," a delighted Barnes told
the Gleaner yesterday. "It is an opportunity to make the
team and represent my country."
Barnes
who grew up in Edgewater in Portmore and left the island as a
10-year-old in 1990 said he does not know how the national team
got to know about him. "I guess someone mentioned my name
to the coach and he called me up."
In
his two years at Virginia, Barnes has steadily improved his goalscoring
output netting six with five assists in his first year. He followed
this up with nine and eight assists in his second year as his
team advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.
With
the departure of Chris Albright, to whom Barnes played second
fiddle, to the US Major League Soccer (MLS), Barnes is expected
to lead his team's scoring. A profile on the University's had
this to say about Barnes:"... has the potential to dazzle
with his footwork...expected to step up his scoring this fall
following the loss of Chris Albright".
This
expectation of the former Wolmer's Preparatory School player
would not be far-fetched. At the St Thomas Aquinas High School
he set a goalscoring record of 113 goals and 71 assists in his
four years. Among his other hounours are NSCAA and Parade All-American,
sate player of the, led his high school to three straight state
titles and two national championships. He was also named to the
all-state team twice in addition to being a National honour Society,
played on state and regional development football teams.
Already
Barnes has acquainted himself with another invitee Tyrone Marshall
of the Miami Fusion. Barnes who lives in the Miami area trains
with the Fusion on holidays.
In
the time that Barnes has been around Marsahll he has made an
impression on the more experienced player."I think he is
a good player. He has a lot of skill," Marshall said.
"He
is very quick, very deceptive with his speed and has a knack
for the the goal. He is a young player and I think with more
professional exposure he will get better. I think as he develops
he will get better at finishing as if you are going to be a forward
you have to finish."
Boyd NATIONAL striker
Walter Boyd who is out of contract with his club Swansea City
has been given along with team captain Matthew Bound until the
end of this week to sign a new deal, according to report on the
club's website.
The report said
talks with the agents of Boyd and the defender Bound have been
dragging on since the end of the season. A third player, who
is also out of contract, forward Julian Alsop refused the new
deal offered.
"This week
is decision time for them both. I need to know how things lie
for next season," club manager John Hollins was quoted as
saying.
"I've got
two or three players in mind and my decisions on those will proceed
accordingly. I want it done sooner rather than later - I do need
a holiday after all!"
The clubs chairman,
Steve Hamer, said both players have been offered the best possible
deals.
Checks with Boyd's
manager, Barry McIntosh, confirmed the player has been issued
with an ultimatum to sign. He differed, however, on the time
frame.
"I don't
know about the end of this week," McIntosh said. "I
got a call on my mobile today (yesterday) but I was out of range
so it was diverted to my residence. On that they are giving us
until next week Wednesday.
"What can
I say to that? The good news for me is that Walter has been granted
an extension on his work permit and as far as I am concerned
that entitles him to stay in the UK," he said.
Armed with the
extension on his work permit, McIntosh believes Boyd will have
an even stronger bargaining position.
"Once he
can stay in the UK then we will look at all our options,"
he said.
"We will
not be railroaded by anybody into doing a deal just because they
are setting deadlines. It just does not work like that. While
they are trying to push Walter to sign a deal, John Hollins is
being linked with all kinds of different jobs such as Leicester
City (recently vacated by Martin O'Neill)."
|
|
Let Jamie play
THE decision
made by Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Captain Horace
Burrell on Wednesday to rescind an invitation to Bradford City's
midfielder Jamie Lawrence to represent the national football
team has raised a number of issues.
Lawrence, a 30-year-old
of Jamaican parentage, has long harboured the idea of representing
the country of his parents and must have thought he realised
this when he was invited to join the national team in preparation
for a four-nation tournament in Morocco.
The midfielder's
dream of parading his skills in the yellow, green and black jersey
of Jamaica was shattered after his invitaion was withdrawn by
the president as it emerged that Lawrence had served two prison
sentences for robbery while he was a teenager.
Among the questions
being raised relating to the dis-invitation of Lawrence was when
this policy was formulated.
Was it after
the Winston Anglin case when he returned from prison in the United
States for smuggling drugs? If this is so why was it not made
public?
If I remember
correctly, in the case of Winston Anglin, then technical director
Rene Simoes said he would leave the decision of inviting Anglin
to the team, to the people of Jamaica. At no time during that
period did anyone hear of a policy being in place.
Anglin, one of
the island's most consistent midfielders of the 1980s and who
was a part of Rene Simoes' squad when he first arrived, was given
an 18-month sentence in the United States for drug smuggling.
He returned to the island in mid-1996.
Additionally
what I believe to be important at that time to the decision-making
process regarding Anglin was the commonly-held view that he had
passed his best and therefore would not fit in with the national
programme.
The fact that
Anglin would have required a United States visa to travel with
the team also served as a demerit against him.
Even that hurdle
it is believed could be cleared had Anglin been at his best as
he could have been held in transit whenever the team travelled.
Jamie Lawrence is a British citizen and would not need a United
States visa to travel to that country so that would not be a
problem for him.
The argument
forwarded by the Captain that the team would come under unneccesary
hassle because of Lawrence's criminal record would not necessarily
hold water if he travels on a Jamaican passport as he has no
criminal record in the country.
In saying that
it does not matter what kind of life Lawrence has been leading
since his convictions "he is still disqualified" is
missing an excellent opportunity to show the youth of this country
that a mistake or two does not mean that one will have to continue
along that path. As it appeared in the New Nation article with
Lawrence the footballer himself said he has been directly involved
in guiding youngsters on the right path.
"I talk
to them all the time and try to point them in the right direction,"
Lawrence was quoted speaking about the youngsters in Balham,
South London where he grew up.
This discriminatory
behaviour also goes against the policy under the past technical
director, Rene Simoes.
What message
is the JFF sending? Is is that there can be no redemption?
This moral high
ground taken by the JFF of condemning a man for crimes he has
already paid for gives the impression that they themselves are
without sin. As verse in the Bible said, "He that is without
sin let him cast the first stone."
I am not in a
position to throw even a pebble and I doubt whether the good
Captain or any member of his staff could do so with clean hands
and a clear conscience.
|
Jamaica v. Japan |
0-4 |
|
Jamaica v. Morocco |
0-1 |
|
Jamaica v. Columbia |
3-0 |
|
Jamaica v. Romania |
0-0 |
|
Jamaica v. Panama |
0-1 |
|
Jamaica v. USA |
2-2 |
|
Jamaica v. Sweden |
2-0 |
|
Jamaica v. Cuba* |
2-0 |
|
Jamaica v. USA* |
1-2 |
|
