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The Lost Boyz - After playing in two World Youth Championships (WYC), young Reggae Boyz struggle to shine for senior team
published: Monday | October 30, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Gordon Williams, Contributor
Left: Sean Fraser playing for Miami F.C. CenterRight: Fabian Dawkins. Right: Shavar Thomas (left) playing for the senior Reggae Boyz in the recently-concluded Digicel Caribbean Cup qualifiers at the National Stadium.
Shavar Thomas remembers marking Rob Friend during Jamaica's football international at 'The Office' earlier this month.
"Big, strong, fast," the central defender thought of the 6' 4", 210-pound striker who had scored Canada's<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative"></SPAN> only goal to beat Jamaica when the teams met in early September.
"But nothing really special."
Thomas had played against Friend before, at the youth level. The last time was when he captainedJamaica's under-23s in a practice match against Canada in Florida, prior to the young Reggae Boyz's hyped, but failed, Olympic qualifying bid.
Friend, who now plays in Holland's top league, wasn't "really special" then either, Thomas said, especially when compared to players he had faced before at the 2001 under-20 FIFA<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative"></SPAN> World Youth Championships (WYC), a tournament the Canadian had also played in.
"Saviola, Coloccini, D'Ales-sandro," Thomas recalls. The names of the young Argentine trio rolled much easier off his tongue. They are harder to forget because he sees them often, playing for top clubs and their senior national team - even at the 2006 World Cup. Thomas remembers testing himself against current Brazilian stars Kaka, Adriano and others at under-20 too.
Yet, despite unending promises - which many players made to themselves and claim local football administrators pledged to them as well - it is hard to gather names from Jamaica's squads at the 1999 under-17 WYC finals in New Zealand and the under-20 tournament in Argentina, which have made a big impact as Reggae Boyz.
While Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu, all members of the United States team in New Zealand in 1999, became cornerstones of the American squad to Germany in 2006, where Michael Essien - another '99 product - also starred for Ghana, somewhere alon
published: Monday | October 30, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Gordon Williams, Contributor
Left: Sean Fraser playing for Miami F.C. CenterRight: Fabian Dawkins. Right: Shavar Thomas (left) playing for the senior Reggae Boyz in the recently-concluded Digicel Caribbean Cup qualifiers at the National Stadium.
Shavar Thomas remembers marking Rob Friend during Jamaica's football international at 'The Office' earlier this month.
"Big, strong, fast," the central defender thought of the 6' 4", 210-pound striker who had scored Canada's<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative"></SPAN> only goal to beat Jamaica when the teams met in early September.
"But nothing really special."
Thomas had played against Friend before, at the youth level. The last time was when he captainedJamaica's under-23s in a practice match against Canada in Florida, prior to the young Reggae Boyz's hyped, but failed, Olympic qualifying bid.
Friend, who now plays in Holland's top league, wasn't "really special" then either, Thomas said, especially when compared to players he had faced before at the 2001 under-20 FIFA<SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative"></SPAN> World Youth Championships (WYC), a tournament the Canadian had also played in.
"Saviola, Coloccini, D'Ales-sandro," Thomas recalls. The names of the young Argentine trio rolled much easier off his tongue. They are harder to forget because he sees them often, playing for top clubs and their senior national team - even at the 2006 World Cup. Thomas remembers testing himself against current Brazilian stars Kaka, Adriano and others at under-20 too.
Yet, despite unending promises - which many players made to themselves and claim local football administrators pledged to them as well - it is hard to gather names from Jamaica's squads at the 1999 under-17 WYC finals in New Zealand and the under-20 tournament in Argentina, which have made a big impact as Reggae Boyz.
While Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu, all members of the United States team in New Zealand in 1999, became cornerstones of the American squad to Germany in 2006, where Michael Essien - another '99 product - also starred for Ghana, somewhere alon
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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