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Despite a full strength [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Reggae [COLOR=blue !important]Boyz[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] team not suiting up since last year's staging of the Gold Cup, the head of the local football federation, Captain Horace Burrell, is excited by the current crop of players that the country has at its disposal.
"The team that Jamaica currently has, I am confident will make us all very proud," Burrell said, while speaking at yesterday's sponsorship announcement ceremony for the local coaching school held at the Jamaica Football Federation's (JFF) head office.
"We have a set of exciting players; in fact I think that the most difficult problem that is now being experienced by the coaching staff is to select the team, which is a good problem," he added.
Burrell is especially impressed with the number of attackers that Jamaica has plying their trade in top leagues abroad, including striker [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Marlon [COLOR=blue !important]King[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], who has netted 14 goals to go along with eight assist from 35 games for English League Championship club, Birmingham City. King last represented Jamaica in 2008.
"Can you imagine when Marlon King comes to Jamaica, not to talk about Ryan Johnson who plays for Toronto. Ryan Johnson has been scoring some tremendous goals," Burrell said, while pointing out that he does not anticipate any problems where cohesion in the team is concerned, despite the infrequency of matches featuring both the local and overseas players.
"One of the advantages with having players plying their trade at the higher level is that they will always have higher technical knowledge," Burrell said.
"The players are all in competition and they will be match fit and ready, so I am not foreseeing any major problems there," he added.
Jamaica has a number of other players in the United States Major League Soccer and based on the exploits of those players that nation's federation president, Sunil Gulati, is weary of the country's treat.
"I was speaking with the President of the United States Football Federation and he tells me that the US are now trembling because they know that Jamaica has a strong front line and of all the teams in CONCACAF, they are afraid of two teams, Jamaica and Mexico," Burrell said.
Local fans will get the opportunity to see the country's premier players in action on May 27 ahead of the start of the next [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]World [COLOR=blue !important]Cup [/COLOR][COLOR=blue !important]qualifiers[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] on June 8 against Guatemala.
The 54th-ranked Reggae Boyz will host the 50th-ranked Panamanians on May 27 before journeying to Panama City for a another match up on June 1.
"On Sunday the 27 of May we will have all our overseas based players from Europe, from the Far East, from the United States and our home grown players available for selection," Burrell said while speaking at yesterday's sponsorship announcement ceremony for the local coaching school held at the Jamaica Football Federation's (JFF) head office.
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