Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer
GARDNER
THE REGGAE Boyz are set to be without one of their most experienced players for the CONCACAF Gold Cup football tournament which takes place in the United States from July 6 to 24.
The 26-year-old left-sided player Ricardo Gardner, who has had a history of knee troubles and who has had at least three surgeries to date, has been ruled out by another knee problem, according to coach Wendell Downswell.
"Yes, Gardner will definitely be out of the Gold Cup because of a knee problem," Downswell told The Gleaner yesterday.
"He returned to the island last week and met with both myself and the president on Wednesday last and outlined his position. He is due to head back to Colorado next week to have another meeting with his knee specialist so they could have a look at the knee," Downswell continued.
Downswell was banking on the Bolton Wanderers player to lend some valuable experience to the squad that he is refashioning.
"He was an integral part of our plan and his experience would have been valuable in the United States," Downswell said of Gardner who along with Donovan Ricketts, Ricardo Fuller, Jermaine Johnson and Claude Davis would have been the only England-based players in the youthful squad made up mainly of local-based players.
With Gardner out, Downswell will be forced to choose between Harbour View's Robert Scarlett and Rivoli's Garfield Reid for the left back position.
"I think we have good back-up in Robert Scarlett and Garfield Reid who have been alternating in that position in Gardner's absence," explained Downswell.
Gardner was a member of the Jamaican team which created history by becoming the fisrt English-speaking Caribbean island to qualify for the the World Cup in 1998.
He provided the cross for Robbie Earle to score the country's first goal at the finals and so impressed throughout the tournament that the then 19-year-old earned a contract to play in England with Bolton Wanderers, then in the Fisrt Division.
With that contract Gardner became the first home-grown player since Lindy Delapenha to achieve such a feat.
