SOJ turns attention to World Games after Unified Cup triumph

AFTER LIFTING the Unified Cup for the first time, the Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) football team is now looking to be champions of the Special Olympics World Games, scheduled for Germany in 2023.

SOJ’s football assistant coach Fadil Lee is confident that the team can claim victory in Germany.

“With all indications, of course. In terms of capability, we definitely can,” he said.

However, Lee said the team might have to take on a different strategy for the upcoming Games.

“We would have to take a slightly different approach because I think the competition in Germany will be a seven-a-side versus the 11-a-side we played in the Unified Cup. But the team is a very strong team, so we are looking forward to a similar result,” he said.

Executive director of Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ), Coleridge ‘Roy’ Howell, said the team was preparing to give it their all at the Games.

“We continue our programme right around, as soon as the facilities are available and we don’t have much outbreak of COVID and we can get some time to get some more athletes into the programme to represent our country as best as they can - we are going for both females and males,” Howell said.

High standard

The SOJ’s football programme has not just been of a high standard in recent times but has shown continuous improvement, with the Jamaicans bettering their runners-up position in 2018 to beat Paraguay 2-0 in the finals this year, all while not conceding a goal at the 2022 tournament.

Howell said this was a great achievement for the team.

“You go and compete against some of the most difficult, renowned football-oriented countries and win it (the Unified Cup) on Independence Day. It’s a double celebration,” he said.

“This brought joy for the team, the country and the people who supported us. It’s a great achievement.”

Howell credited the team’s victory to the dedication of all parties who helped the team throughout the competition.

“The focus that these guys had and the achievement they made were all in the dedication and the work that they put in during the down period,” he said.

He also congratulated the Jamaican female players in the competition, who were a part of a Caribbean team made up of Jamaica, Aruba, Haiti and Bahamas.

“They met for the first time on the Saturday before the tournament started on the Sunday. They came fourth, which was a remarkable achievement,” he said.