EVER CONFIDENT in his abilities and ready to represent his country, midfielder Je-Vaughn Watson said he was not surprised by his recent call-up and is looking to play a senior role, a team-building role, in the Reggae Boyz outfit.

Watson is working overtime to get his fitness up to speed with twice daily workouts with Jason ‘Buju’ Henry and Merron Gordon, and ready to resume his professional club career in the Middle East, having already signed a contract.

“I have to do what I’m supposed to do to get back to regular fitness and sharpness, because if you’re not playing for a while, you’re not that sharp,” he said.

“People outside looking in don’t even know that that takes a lot of guts, a lot of work, a lot of determination to stand up playing against Costa Rica in Costa Rica, playing against Panama in Panama,” added Watson, upon his return from Costa Rica, where he was introduced as an 85th-minute sub in the game that ended 1-1.

Jimmy Marin scored for Costa Rica at the fourth minute, but Shamar Nicholson equalised at the 47th.

Popularly known in the football world as ‘Hacker’, Watson is a skilful and versatile player with strong defensive and offensive skills, a nice passing range, plus pace.

SENIOR CAREER

He began his senior career at Clarendon’s Sporting Central Academy, from where he earned national selection in mid-2008, before moving on to a lengthy club career in the United States, accumulating 150 caps in Major League Soccer at Houston, FC Dallas and New England.

“I’m here to keep the team together. We’ve got a lot of young guys, but not a lot of experienced guys, so that’s where I try to play my role and keep the unit tight,” Watson said.

Watson was brought into the Jamaica team as a replacement for Cavalier Soccer Club’s Richard King, who was unable to secure a visa in time for the Central American country.

The versatile midfielder, who also plays in the back line, had not represented Jamaica close to a year after returning from North America, where he was playing in the United Soccer League. He was not involved in the game until recently when he suited up for Humble Lion FC in the Jamaica Premier League, playing three matches.

“I played two matches for Humble Lion but I’m not going to play any more because I’ve got a contract in the Middle East,” he told The Gleaner.

Watson said despite not being in the Reggae Boyz team for almost a year, his heart and spirit were very much there.

“Everybody loves ‘Hacker’ and as soon as I got in the camp it was just love, like players, coaches who I didn’t know before who saw me play, said ‘it’s like you have always been here’. I motivate the guys, I keep the guys together, when I go on the field I work hard, I do what I’m supposed to do,” he shared.

Commenting on criticisms surrounding his recall, mostly due to his age, the 37-year-old Watson said “it (age) is just a number because if you put me out there with anybody else, I can run them any day, any time”.

“ I see a lot of people going for guys, Dani Alves is a 40-year-old and people still love him, Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) is 40 but people still love him. But that’s just Jamaica, there are always critics somewhere, we don’t try to lift people, we always try to break down stuff and at the end of the day everything is going to change,” said Watson, who has been capped 86 times for Jamaica’s senior team.

“I just have to go out there and do what I have to do, what I’ve always been doing. I’m the one in the middle always doing the work. If you’re not scoring goals in Jamaica, you’re just pushed aside. But I’m going to keep on doing the work. At the end of the day, I’m here to make the team happy. If I don’t score and if the team is winning, I’m good,” said Watson.

audley.boyd@gleanerjm.com