Nodley Wright, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA'S UNDER-20 team will depart the island on Tuesday for Germany to participate in the SpVgg Oberndorf Under-19 tournament which runs from August 15-17.
The competition, which involves eight teams - six clubs and two national teams, is divided into two groups of four. Jamaica are in Group A with German club Freiburg, Qatar and FC Botafogo of Brazil.
In Group B are VFB Stuttgart (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), FC Kaiserslauten (Germany) and Arsenal (England).|
Jamaica's 18-man squad, which will be accompanied by technical director Carl Brown, coach Wendell Downswell, manager Dennis Bell and masseur Juan Pablo Camargo will include one overseas-based player in Bolton Wanders' Cleveland Taylor.
Also in the squad are Dean Thompson, Luton Shelton, Keneil Moodie, Howard Wong, Akeem Priestley, Duwayne Kerr and Kieron Bernard who were previously part of one of or both Under-17 and Under-20 squads. The remaining members of the squad with the exception of Rafei Wolfe, were invited in a drive to unearth new talent," Brown said.
"We went confederation by confederation and asked the parish teams to assemble teams which we matched against each other," Brown said.
"Through this programme we saw a number of exciting talents. We saw some very good players who have never previously been part of the national programme," he added.
Among those identified through that initiative were Wade Spence of ValuP in St. Elizabeth, Merrick Howard of Super Action also in St. Elizabeth, Sean Mason of Porus FC in Manchester and the Taylor brothers, Jermaine and Ricardo, from Portland.
These new players, Brown said, were just a year older or about the same age as a number of the players who were a part of the squad which failed to qualify for the Under-17 World Cup. The difference between the new finds and the other players was that they were stronger and more sturdily built," Brown said.
The physiques of these new players was one of the reasons cited by Brown for the exclusion of players such as the pencil-slim defender Kemar Munroe, one of the better talents in the Under-17s, and Steven Morrissey.
Another notable absentee from that squad was Santos forward Richard West who "is in Philadelphia at a training camp put on by Manchester United".
Despite the inexperience of some of the players, Brown is expecting good performances.
"I would want the players to impress the organisers of this tournament so much that they will invite us again," said Brown.
"I would also want the players to benefit from the exposure. Based on the clubs in this tournament, I am sure that a number of clubs are looking for talent and they (the players) should see it as an opportunity," said Brown who is also using this tournament to begin preparations for the next Under-20 World Cup for which qualification starts next year.
Each game will be played with 25-minute halves except for the final which will have 30-minute halves. Jamaica play their first game on Friday against Freiburg.
Jamaica squad: Cleveland Taylor, Simieon Howell, Bradley Thomas, Keneil Moodie, Wade Spence (ValuP), Merrick Howard (Super Action, St. Elizabeth), Sean Mason (Porus FC), Dean Thompson, Luton Shelton, Howard Wong, Duran Myton (Old Harbour), Akeem Priestley, Ricardo Taylor, Jermaine Taylor, Duwayne Kerr, Ryan Thompson, Rafei Wolfe and Kieron Bernard.
