Congratulations to HVFC players Renato Campbell and Jeremy Verley (picked as the team captain), on their selection in the national under-17 team!
Andrew Edwards, the head coach of Jamaica’s Under-17 men’s team, believes that with the requisite support the age group under his command could be the best positioned of the youth teams to fly the Jamaican flag more consistently on the global stage, all things being equal.
So far Jamaica’s Under-17 men’s football programme has been the most successful, having qualified for two FIFA World Cups — New Zealand in 1999 and Mexico in 2011.
The senior Reggae Boyz have qualified for one World Cup in 1998, while the Under-20s earned qualification to the Argentina tournament in 2001, capping a golden era for Jamaica’s football.
For the Under-17s, there have been a couple of near misses along the journey, with the most recent being in the CONCACAF finals in Honduras last year, where the young Boyz lost to the USA in a penalty shoot-out for the final qualifying spot for Chile.
A teacher by trade, Edwards has reiterated his call for more investment into youth football at every level.
“It’s very unfortunate, and one would hope that, having so many near misses (to qualify for World Cups), the federation (Jamaica Football Federation) would come to the realisation that we need to make meaningful investments in the youth programme, and particularly the Under-17s, which I believe give us the greatest chance of qualification to World Cups.
“We are very competitive at the CONCACAF level and the records, if researched, will reveal that I actually made the point that we could have gone on and qualified for the World Cup the last time out had we been given the kind of support that we had wanted.
“I was actually on record saying we could have won our preliminary-round group which included hosts Honduras, Guatemala, Trinidad and the United States,” said Edwards, who is guiding his lads through final preparation for the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Group Four play-offs in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) starting on Friday.
In the Honduras near miss, the coach said his team only lost one game in the preliminary-group phase to the only team he and his technical staff were not able to scout, underlining the importance of direct resources into all vital areas of pre-tournament preparartion.
“We had gathered information on all the teams except the host country Honduras, and was the only team we lost to, except the penalty shoot-out loss the USA. That shows that once we get the preparation in, we believe that we can topple any team in CONCACAF,” Edwards shared with the Jamaica Observer.
He thinks the natural athletic ability of Jamaican players at this level makes them competitive in CONCACAF and keeps them knocking at the door for their age-group World Cup.
“Part of the the reason for that at this particular age level is that athletic ability, which is a huge plus, this is one area where we are superior to the other teams in CONCACAF, certainly at that level.
“Technically, we are just about on par (with other CONCACAF nations) and tactically we are getting there, and so too our coaching. Overall, I think we are in a good place, and it’s for us to go beyond just being competitive and now to be champions (of CONCACAF),” Edwards noted.
Coaching education actualisation at the highest level and more international activity for teams preparing for competition, Edwards argues, would go a far way in improving the competitiveness of Jamaica’s youth football within the CONCACAF.
“We need to take our coaching education programme more seriously by way of international experience at the youth levels, and most importantly, at the national level we need to get our teams in international competition much earlier and more frequently.
“Ideally, if we were able to get in the region of eight international games before we get into the CONCACAF round that would auger very well for our own competitiveness. And I am not talking about our Caribbean neighbours, because in truth and fact, most of the times we are superior to them,” he said.
Once again, Jamaica’s Under-17s will begin their hunt for World Cup qualification glory when they leave for the US Virgin Islands for the CFU first round, where they will be battle tested following a process of recruitment and nurturing which started last August.
In three warm-up matches to cap off the rigorous preparation phase, the Under-17s were defeated 2-1 by St George’s College on Thursday, but they bounced back to defeat Denham Town High School 2-0 on Saturday, and Kingston College 5-2 on Monday.
The 20-man squad, with six overseas-based players, used the three warm-up matches to simulate likely tournament situations and schedule. In the end, Edwards believes that most, if not all, objectives were met.
“We definitely used the games as a simulation exercise, so even though we were playing against local opposition, we didn’t refer to the schools by their correct names. For example, St George’s College would have been Guyana, and the others would have been Antigua and USVI.
“Yes, the exercise served its intended purposes and we thought the Boyz responded very well. I think now they have that mindset as to what will be required of them and I think they will deliver on all fronts,” Edwards noted.
Jamaica will open their account in the USVI against Guyana on Friday, before going up against Antigua and Barbuda two days later. They then close out their campaign with a match against the hosts on Tuesday, July 19. All games will be played at the Lionel Roberts Stadium in St Thomas.
Group One of the CFU round one play-offs will be contested by St Kitts and Nevis, Cuba, Dominica and Barbados; Group Two consist of Cayman Islands, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Aruba; Group Three will see St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Bermuda, and Grenada doing battle; Group Five will have Guadeloupe, Dominican Republic, Curacao and St Martin; while Group Six is made up of Suriname, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and The Bahamas.
Only the six group winners and the best overall second place teams from the first round of qualififers will advance to the eight-team Caribbean finals slated for Trinidad and Tobago September 16-25.
The top five will advance to the CONCACAF Under-17 Men’s Championship slated for Panama in April next year. The FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup will be staged in India next summer.
Squad: Goalkeepers — Daniel Russell (Holmwood Tech/Hill Stars), Tajay Griffiths (Innswood High/Royal Lakes); defenders: Kendall Edwards (Parkview High/Atlanta, USA), Romario McPherson (Bridgeport High/Edgewater FC), Jamoi Topey (Camperdown High/Portmore United), Nickache Murray (Wolmer’s Boys’/Cavalier SC), Jordan Petrekin (Kingston College/Real Mona), Blake White (Home Schooled, Florida, USA), Calwayne Allen (St James High/Irwin United); midfielders: Jeremy Verley (St George’s College), Omar Thompson (Kingston College/Cavalier SC), Kimmani Gibbons (St Jago High/Portmore United), Casseam Priestley (Kingston College/Santos SC), Damani Osei (Cosby High School, USA); forwards: Khaeem Parris (Dinthill Tech/Cavalier SC), Cobi Atkinson (American Heritage, FL, USA), Raewin Senior (Excelsior High School/Portmore United), Renato Campbell (Kingston College/Harbour View FC), Thriston Briscoe (Babylon School, NY, USA), Chad Letts (YSC Academy, Philadelphia, USA).
Source: The Jamaica Observer