By Nodley Wright, Freelance WriterJAMAICA'S UNDER-20 team could soon be taking on their German counterparts in a friendly international with only the date and the venue to be finalised.
President of the Jamaica Football Federation, Crenston Boxhill, made the disclosure in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday.
The agreement, Boxhill said, was reached at the annual Die-Auslosong Fur Nokia-debitel-Cup 12-team tournament, which took place in Dusseldorf, recently.
At that tournament he met Michael Skibbe, assistant to German national coach Rudi Voeller.
"When we played Bayern Munich the chief organiser of the tournament had me as a guest in his box, introduced me to Skibbe, the patron of the tournament," said Boxhill. That opportunity he said was not wasted.
"In that meeting my first approach was to talk about international football and specifically to explore the possibility of Jamaica playing Germany in a friendly match in that age group. He seemed interested and during the game he commented on the performance of a number of players and the team in general.
IMPRESSED
"At the end of the game Skibbe was so impressed that without putting a date to it, he said the game was not just a possibility, they definitely wanted to play our team. It is now just about setting the date and the venue," added Boxhill.
Following that initial meeting an agreement numbers and e-mail addresses were exchanged with the understanding that "a confirmation will be made in the very near future".
A date with Germany was not the only positive coming out of Jamaica's participation in the tournament, which ran from April 8-13 according to Boxhill.
"I have no doubt that more could come of the connections that we have made in Germany. As a matter of fact I made an address at a dinner during the tournament and I indicated that I was interested in hosting a similar tournament in Jamaica. Within two hours of that stated intention Newcastle, Juventus and Borrusia Dortmund among other clubs expressed serious interest in being a part of the tournament," Boxhill said.
Additionally, he said some of those same clubs "expressed a desire to have us participate in tournaments in their countries such as Italy, Spain and England".
The possibility of Jamaica hosting their own tournament Boxhill said may appear to some as a pipe dream but already the signs are encouraging.
"I definitely want this tournament to be a reality. Already I have spoken to Uhlsport our kit sponsor with a view to having them be a sponsor or part sponsor and they have been very receptive to the idea. They have been receptive to the point where they have already committed themselves to the cause without being specific in terms of cost," he said.
A tournament of that nature Boxhill said will need more than just one sponsor but in the coming months he will be presenting proposals to a number of possible sponsors in order to have the tournament become a reality.
