Howard Walker | Jamaica Observer
Jamaica’s Errol Stevens has signed for Vietnamese club Hai Phong after spending two years in Thailand with Saraburi FC.
Stevens, 28, who last played for Jamaica in 2012 before picking up an injury, said he was happy with the move which gives him a chance to play in the Asian Champions League.
“I just got my team in Thailand promoted to Premier League so this Vietnam team scouted me three times flying to Thailand and watching me play. So that’s a big reason why I took the move,” he told the Jamaica Observer via Facebook.
Stevens, a powerful and skillful midfielder, has scored 16 goals from 40 games for his Thai league team Saraburi FC. “Now for Hai Phong I will get to play in the AFC Champions League. Many other Thai league teams made offers to me. But I wanted the Champions League,” he reiterated.
Stevens, who played for Russian club FC Khimki in 2009, made his senior Jamaican debut in 2011 earning five caps for the Reggae Boyz before being injured.
The former Harbour View and Arnett Gardens player, though miles away, still keeps in touch with the Reggae Boyz progress.
“I miss playing for Jamaica, of course, and I will always be ready for my country. But after being injured in the World Cup qualifiers in 2012, I sat out nine months and came straight to Thailand,” said Stevens.
“Since that, everything has been going well. So I think with time everything will fall back into place in terms of being in the national team,” said Stevens, who watched Jamaica’s Caribbean Cup games on the Internet.
“I am a player for Jamaica since 2011, but I have always been a fan of my country, so I am always keeping up,” he pointed out.
“The team seems to be going through a rebuilding stage and some players are fairly new. So I guess they will need time to build. The Antigua game looked a lot better than the first game, so I hope it builds from there. The team needs more wins to build confidence and also the fans to support them during this rebuilding stage,” he added.
Standing at six feet two inches, the former student of Greater Portmore High School, is all set to take on a new challenge, switching from Thailand moving further south to Vietnam to form a Jamaican partnership alongside Andre Fagan (who re-signed on loan until September 2015), also formerly of Harbour View.