Nathan Carr, editor of The Home of Caribbean Football, takes a look at the current state of the Jamaican National Team…
A 2-0 win against Barbados on Sunday 2nd March and a 5-0 win against St Lucia on Wednesday 5th leaves Jamaica in impressive shape as they end their two-match Caribbean tour on a high. These two international friendless were arranged with the specific aim of preparing the team for the forthcoming Caribbean Cup tournament and Jamaica can take a lot out of them.
There’s no hiding the fact Jamaica were tipped to claim wins in both of these games, largely because of the opposition they faced in the shape of Barbados and St Lucia – two sides which still have a lot of work to do in order to be highly ranked within the Caribbean region. But Winfried Schäfer’s men had to be thorough, professional and avoid complacency. And they did just that, notching up seven goals and conceded a grand zero.
This presented the perfect opportunity for Schäfer – who had been visiting local domestic matches to monitor players before the two fixtures – to experiment with some inexperienced home-based individuals such as Harbour View’s Kemar Lawrence, Portmore United’s Ricardo Morris and Arnett Gardens’ Renae Lloyd. The German coach has harped on about giving young homegrown players a go since he was appointed last year, insisting there must be an effective blend with squad members based in Europe. Continue reading