Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

KING

NATIONAL TECHNICAL director René Simoes has refused to shed light on reports that Jamaican international Marlon King has been left out of a Reggae Boyz squad which will begin preparations to face Canada to start the crucial third round of World Cup qualifiers on August 20.

According to reports, which first surfaced on local website Jamaicawin.com, which spoke to King's English Premier League club, Wigan, the striker's name is not on a list of overseas-based players already invited to camp for the match. It went on to say that Simoes had confirmed all players for that game had been notified, which would leave King out of the loop.

Hint at surprises

However, when contacted by The Gleaner, Simoes would not confirm the striker's omission from the qualifier.

"I can't give you any official confirmation on that, not until the final list is released on Thursday," Simoes said.

While failing to find the back of the net in Jamaica's last set of qualifiers against the Bahamas, it would be difficult to imagine that performance would be a plausible reason for the striker's omission from the team.

King has scored nine goals for the national team in 15 games, a better than 50 per cent scoring rate.

In a letter to the media about a month ago, Simoes hinted that there could be a number of surprises in the final team selected for the qualifiers.

"Dear Jamaicans, these are the things we are working on with our players, some will be there, some will not," Simoes wrote. "I will not compromise my principles in the name of a player, or the clubs or the persons who are connected to them," he said.

Two-year ban

However, the technical director would also not comment on there being possible disciplinary issues with the forward.

"I am not going to make any comment on the situation until the list is out," Simoes reiterated.

The striker, who was banned for two years by the previous Jamaica Football Federation hierarchy, after an early-morning row during the Reggae Boyz's tour of England in 2006, had that suspension lifted when the new administration took office back in November.

King had recently listed captaining the national team during a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year - a game in which he scored two goals - as a high point in his career.