6 months ago
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JAMAICA’S Under-18 Reggae Boyz recently returned to the island following their participation at the UEFA Friendship Tournament in Turkey. The young Reggae Boyz played in four games and suffered defeats to Saudi Arabia (2-1) Turkey (10-1 ) and Mali (1-0). However, they ended the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Ecuador.
According to Wendell Downswell, technical director of the team, while the experience was good, it showed the big gap between Jamaica’s high- school football programme and other similar age-group competitions around the world.
“It was an overwhelming experience for the youngsters playing in Europe against quality teams and different federations. In addition, we were given a measure as to where our high-school system is at, and we noticed that there was a gap in terms of exposure in competing at the international level,” he explained.
The veteran football coach further stated that while Jamaica won only one of four games played, he saw steady progress from the squad and believes that, based on their debut performance, other local players will be setting their sights on participating at the 2025 staging.
“As the tournament progressed, we got a better understanding of how to compete at the international level. So, for youngsters who were coming out of the Manning and daCosta Cup competitions, it was, at first, a baptism of fire for us. However, in each game, the players showed improvement, and hopefully we can use this as a measuring stick, as this is something that the youngsters in Jamaica can look forward to on a yearly basis,” he said.
The young Reggae Boyz managed to hold their own against all but one opponent, as they were dealt with harshly by hosts Turkey who ran away with a 10-1 victory. According to Downswell, while the players were competitive in the opening minutes, two quick goals by their opponents and some forced changes were the cause of that performance.
“That was just a one-off bad performance, I’ll put it down to that. We were competitive over the first 20 minutes, then we conceded two goals, after which it was all downhill from there. And, with the rules of the tournament saying that you have to give all the respective players a certain amount of playing time, we had to make numerous changes,” he added.
Downswell also credited the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) for allowing the team to represent the country on a platform such as the UEFA Friendship Tournament.
“I want to thank the Jamaica Football Federation for accepting the invitation and providing a platform for the youngsters. We were the only team from the Caribbean at the tournament, so that also speaks volumes of us,” he concluded.
English (US) ·