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Downswell heaps praise on U-20 football team
Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz receive a warm welcome at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday after returning from the XV Pan American Games in Brazil. The Under-20 team narrowly missed out on a gold medal when they were beaten 2-1 by Ecuador in the final, but scored memorable victories over Argentina, Colombia and Mexico - Junior Dowie
The disappointment of the gold medal vanishing within minutes of the final whistle still lingers fresh on the minds of Jamaican's Young Reggae Boyz, but all things considered, walking away with a historic Pan Am silver medal isn't half bad for coach Wendell Downswell.
"They're still a bit disappointed after the loss but if you take into consideration that they have never gone through rigours of this nature, it's not bad," Downswell said of the under-20 team, who were greeted with much fanfare on their arrival at the Norman Manley International airport yesterday.
"We played five games in seven days, a bruising semi-final and a bruising final against a professional team that had 30 high-quality games heading into our fixture, all those things in consideration we have done well," he added.
Jamaica were leading 1-0 with just 13 minutes left in the encounter, but much to their dismay conceded an unfortunate 79th- minute equaliser and then a ghastly call by Brazilian referee Paulo de Oliveira gave the Ecuadorians an 83rd-minute penalty.
Dubious call
Wendell Downswell - file
"The call was dubious from all indication." was the coaches opinion on the matter.
"Nonetheless, I told the guys that it's just one of those things that you have to live with and we are still happy to have done so well," he added.
The former national technical director also took the time out to commend the various youth programmes, which he believed to have played a significant role in the teams result. The team had initially been hampered by the unavailability of many of the students during the examination period.
"I must commend all the youth coaches and certainly the Jamaica Football Federation, we put the team together at a very late stage, didn't have a lot of preparation time and that is a testament to its strength," Downswell remarked.
"We had a fairly experienced squad heading into the tournament, though, and that helped us out a bit." However, I must also take my hat of to the youngsters they are one of the most coachable set of youngsters I have ever come across," he said.
In addition to the silver medal earned at the games, the tournament's
leading goalscorer went to Keammar Daley, while Dwayne Kerr was the tournament's best goalkeeper.
Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz receive a warm welcome at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday after returning from the XV Pan American Games in Brazil. The Under-20 team narrowly missed out on a gold medal when they were beaten 2-1 by Ecuador in the final, but scored memorable victories over Argentina, Colombia and Mexico - Junior Dowie
The disappointment of the gold medal vanishing within minutes of the final whistle still lingers fresh on the minds of Jamaican's Young Reggae Boyz, but all things considered, walking away with a historic Pan Am silver medal isn't half bad for coach Wendell Downswell.
"They're still a bit disappointed after the loss but if you take into consideration that they have never gone through rigours of this nature, it's not bad," Downswell said of the under-20 team, who were greeted with much fanfare on their arrival at the Norman Manley International airport yesterday.
"We played five games in seven days, a bruising semi-final and a bruising final against a professional team that had 30 high-quality games heading into our fixture, all those things in consideration we have done well," he added.
Jamaica were leading 1-0 with just 13 minutes left in the encounter, but much to their dismay conceded an unfortunate 79th- minute equaliser and then a ghastly call by Brazilian referee Paulo de Oliveira gave the Ecuadorians an 83rd-minute penalty.
Dubious call
Wendell Downswell - file
"The call was dubious from all indication." was the coaches opinion on the matter.
"Nonetheless, I told the guys that it's just one of those things that you have to live with and we are still happy to have done so well," he added.
The former national technical director also took the time out to commend the various youth programmes, which he believed to have played a significant role in the teams result. The team had initially been hampered by the unavailability of many of the students during the examination period.
"I must commend all the youth coaches and certainly the Jamaica Football Federation, we put the team together at a very late stage, didn't have a lot of preparation time and that is a testament to its strength," Downswell remarked.
"We had a fairly experienced squad heading into the tournament, though, and that helped us out a bit." However, I must also take my hat of to the youngsters they are one of the most coachable set of youngsters I have ever come across," he said.
In addition to the silver medal earned at the games, the tournament's
leading goalscorer went to Keammar Daley, while Dwayne Kerr was the tournament's best goalkeeper.
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