BRIAN Brown may have come a long way from the rustic settlement of Montpelier in Hanover.
The 21-year-old Harbour View striker is yet to reach his destination, but he’s on his way though.
Brown, the Red Stripe Premier League’s leading goal-scorer, with 10 goals, hopes to one day play in one of the glamour leagues of the world. Another prime goal of his is to be a member of Jamaica’s Russia 2018 World Cup campaign which, by all indications, has already started.
Only recently, the governing Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) announced a busy schedule for the Reggae Boyz. It starts with friendly international matches away to Caribbean rivals Barbados on March 2, and Grenada on the FIFA-sanctioned date of March 5.
Those will be followed by high-profile engagements against Switzerland in Lucerne on May 30 and nine days later against 1998 World Cup winner and host France in Lille.
And, according to JFF president, Captain Horace Burrell, there are more games to come.
Brown does not want to be left out of the mix, therefore he aims to present himself as an irresistible pick to German coach Winfried Schafer.
“Brian Brown needs to be in that team and wants to show the coach that with hard work and the right attitude local players, too, can be good enough,” he said.
“Once local players show their true potential, then the coach will see you. I intend to give 100 per cent for my club and to prove that local players can be as good as those overseas,” Brown added.
The former Rusea’s High School and Montego Bay United star has appeared twice for the senior Reggae Boyz in a two-match friendly series against Trinidad and Tobago last December. That, he claims, was just the beginning.
“That was a good experience for me and something to build on… I just have to keep working hard in training and for my club Harbour View,” Brown noted.
As he prepares for a possible life in the realms of professional football overseas and the senior national programme, Brown said part of that effort will be concentrated on improving on the weak points of his game.
“My strength is my speed, my first touch, shots on goal, and I think my weakest point is heading the ball so I will be working hard to improve that and bring myself up to or even beyond the level of players who do it well,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Brown said he is one of those players who is quite comfortable transplanting what he practises in training onto the pitch on match days.
“I am one of those players who always try to execute in games what I practise in training… I must say that sometimes I surprise myself with what I do in matches,” he noted.
And if there is any doubt to the above statement, all one has to do is reflect on the jaw-dropping overhead kick Brown scored for Harbour View in a 1-0 win over Arnett Gardens on January 5.
It came as no surprise that he was able to execute that difficult skill as the Hanover native draws his inspiration from Brazilian supremo, Ronaldinho.
“From I was kid growing up my favourite player was always Ronaldinho, because what he does with the soccer ball sometimes seems unbelievable…what he does in training, the trickery, so on, is what he does in games.
“To me, he is the greatest player ever born, apart from like Pele and Maradona, but I think he is the most skilful of them all. He’s my idol,” Brown ended.