Hallgrimsson to team up with Downswell on development
Published:Sunday | September 25, 2022 | 12:11 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
THE SHORT-TERM plans for Jamaica national senior men’s head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson will be focused on Argentina in their international friendly on Tuesday. However, Technical Director Wendell Downswell says that the 55-year-old, along with his assistant coach, John Wall, will have a hand in improving development at all levels in their bid to improve Jamaica’s football profile.
Downswell was a part of the local contingent which included Hallgrimsson and Wall that departed yesterday for New Jersey in preparation for their international friendly against Argentina on Tuesday. They will join most of the 23-man squad that have already made their way to the United States.
Wall is one of the two coaches that Hallgrimsson has brought into his team along with goalkeeper coach Juomundur Hreidarsson, who has joined the team in the United States.
The Argentina game will represent Hallgrimsson’s first opportunity to evaluate the team as they look to chart a course to the 2026 World Cup.
But beyond that immediate target, Downswell said that Hallgrimsson will be part of the development system, from the grassroots level as well as improving the instruction of coaching, which he hopes will be the game-changer needed to put the country among the top-tier footballing countries.
“The fact that the coach (Hallgrimsson) will work across the board with the youth teams and coach education speaks volumes for us. This is a grand opportunity for Jamaica’s football to make this turnaround,” Downswell told The Sunday Gleaner.
“He has very good ideas in terms of our development going forward, especially at the youth level, and this is something that we are looking forward to. I think that with this sort of approach, I think it augurs well for the future of Jamaica’s football.”
Wall, who was part of Finland’s coaching staff as a video analyst for their Euro 2016 campaign, says that while he has his own ideas for taking a holistic approach to tap into Jamaica’s potential, he is not making any declarations of changes without taking the time to understand and adapt to the Jamaican culture. However, he is already optimistic about what he and Hallgrimsson can build.
“For me, what we decide and what we agree on that’s what we’ll do. Nothing else. For me, right now really I need to learn, I need to observe, and I need to do those things before I make judgements. That comes from every angle and every aspect of football. It’s the first glance of Jamaican football but there is so much more hidden behind it,” Wall said.
“We need to come together and from that point, things can improve. But it cannot just be the national team, it has to be overall when it comes to the level of play domestically, the schoolboy system and the girls.”
That adjustment period is also in the vision for Downswell, with the team looking to address the particular concerns in the system.
In the meantime, Hallgrimsson’s assessment in his first game as head coach will include two late additions in Maliek Howell and Waterhouse’s Ricardo Thomas, who has been called up in place of the injured Gregory Leigh.